PepsiCo beats earnings estimates

PepsiCo topped Wall Street expectations for third-quarter revenue and profit on Thursday, helped by steady demand for its snacks and sodas in key international markets and strength in its healthier drinks category in the United States, reports Reuters.

The company also named Steve Schmitt, who is currently U.S. finance head at its biggest customer Walmart, as its new CFO, effective November. He succeeds Jamie Caulfield, who was in the CFO role for about two years and will retire after more than three decades with PepsiCo.

The company is under pressure from activist investor Elliott Management for lagging behind main rival Coca-Cola, while also facing consumer pushback on price hikes over the years and scrutiny on synthetic flavors from the Trump administration.

CEO Ramon Laguarta said the company's interactions with Elliott have been collaborative and he agrees with the activist investor that the company is undervalued. He said many of the investor's ideas were included in PepsiCo's current strategy.

Laguarta, however, did not give a clear answer to the activist investor's boldest idea to grow PepsiCo's margins by spinning off the company's large North American bottling network.