Preceding the opening bell on September 3, one of the nation’s leading manufactures and distributors of premium quality, nutritious food products, Del Monte Foods Co. (DLM) confirmed that the company’s profits from the 1Q came in higher than estimated, due to higher selling prices and lower cost expenditures. As a result, Del Monte upwardly adjusted their full-year guidance projections.

For the recent period, the company managed to generate a net profit of $58.6M, or $0.29 per share, a distinct opposite of last year’s quarterly loss of $10.1M, or $0.05 per share.

Revenues, in the meantime, advanced more than 12%, climbing from $726.2M a year ago to $813.7M. Net sales from the company’s consumer products jumped from $383.5M to $401.4M, an increase of nearly 5% year-over-year. Meanwhile, pet product sales advanced from $342.7M a year ago to $412.3M, a jump of more than 20%.

On average, analysts within the industry were looking for the maker of 9Lives cat food, Milk Bone dog treats and Del Monte canned foods to record a quarterly profit of $0.04 per share on overall revenues of $767.1M.

Richard Wolford, Chairman and CEO of Del Monte Foods, remarked on the company’s results, "These results reflect the successful execution of our Accelerated Growth Plan strategy, including fiscal 2009 pricing actions that recouped some of the inflationary cost-driven margin contraction experienced over the past few years, productivity initiatives to drive costs out of our business, and increased investment in our core brands and growth engines to drive margins and expand beyond our current categories.''

Del Monte’s bottom-line was bolstered by the company’s increased efforts to reduce costs. In doing so, DLM saw the cost of goods sold retreat from $566.8M to $553.8M, a decrease in expenditures of more than 2%.

The company also managed to reduce their selling, general and administrative (SG&A) costs from $146.1M to $139M, a drop of nearly 5% year-over-year.

The company’s 1Q results mark the fourth consecutive earnings surprise for Del Monte. In the previous three quarters, the company had topped estimates by an average 29.2%.

With the company’s earnings report simply crushing estimates for the period, Del Monte attuned their fiscal 2010 earnings forecast higher and is now predicting annual earnings to come in between $0.88 and $0.92 per share, up from a previously stated range of $0.76 to $0.80 per share.

Del Monte maintained their views on yearly sales, in which the company is looking for revenues to increase between 4% and 6% year-over-year, based on estimates that their consumer and pet businesses continue with their growth potential. Del Monte posted annual sales in fiscal 2009 of $3.63B.

By the end of 2010, analysts are projecting that Del Monte’s annual earnings come in at $0.80 per share with yearly sales totaling $3.79B.

With the September 3 trading session concluded, shares of DLM surged more than 7%, gaining $0.78, to finish the day at $11.15 per share. During the session, the company’s stock reached a price of $11.61 per share, establishing a new 52-week high. On the contrary, shares of Del Monte have also traded as low as $5.06 per share over the past year as well.