Nestle Inc., parent company of Nestle Purina, reported its nine-month sales fell 2% to 79.5 billion Swiss francs (US$77.9 billion).

However, the company's sales rose 3.8% during the third quarter.

"We believe that the third quarter performance is a signal that Nestle's top-line is moving in the right direction and we expect more in the fourth quarter and into 2010," said Andrew Wood, senior research analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, in an article by MarketWatch .