** Cadbury-parent Mondelez's MDLZ.O shares beat Wall Street estimates for first-quarter profit on Tuesday, driven by high prices for its chocolates and biscuits
** Company's shares up 1.5% to $66.65 premarket
COCOA CRUNCH TIME
** RBC Capital Markets ("outperform," PT: $71) sees MDLZ as "diamond in the rough" because of its strong global position, despite ongoing challenges in packaged food industry
** Morgan Stanley ("overweight," PT: $72) expects faster revenue growth driven by better market share performance and momentum in company's chocolate portfolio due to stronger pricing growth
** Piper Sandler ("neutral," PT: $66) says consumer sentiment in Europe is better than in the United States, and Mondelez is implementing significant phased pricing increases
** MDLZ is adjusting prices to offset cocoa costs and to anticipate future cocoa prices, aiming to protect long-term sales volume, Piper Sandler says
** Morningstar (fair value: $73) says "Mondelez will need to marry on-trend innovation with affordable price points, this was the impetus behind its launch of products priced at $3 or less"
(Reporting by Akriti Shah in Bengaluru)
((akriti.shah@thomsonreuters.com))
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