J.M. Smucker reported a mixed second quarter for its pet food business during fiscal year 2026, reflecting broader trends in consumer behavior and lingering impacts from recent divestitures. While the overall company saw net sales rise 3% to $2.3 billion, U.S. pet food retail sales declined 7% to $413.2 million for the three months ended Oct. 31, 2025.
The decrease in pet food revenue was attributed primarily to lower dog snack sales and the loss of contract manufacturing revenue from previously divested pet food brands. Volume and mix reduced net sales by 8 percentage points in the pet food segment, while net price realization added just 1 percentage point.
Despite the revenue decline, pet food segment profit for Smucker rose 2% year over year to $124.4 million, benefiting from lower costs and improved pricing. This brought the segment’s profit margin to 30.1%, a 2.8 percentage point increase from the prior year and the highest margin among all of Smucker’s operating segments.
In contrast, the company's total adjusted operating income fell 20%, and adjusted earnings per share dropped 24% to $2.10. These companywide results reflected increased marketing spend, unfavorable volume/mix in several categories, and higher input costs, particularly in coffee.
Cat food drives pet food growth for Smucker
The Milk-Bone and Meow Mix brands formed the backbone of pet segment growth, J.M. Smucker CEO Mark Smucker said in prepared remarks.
Within the pet food category, the Meow Mix brand delivered strong results. The dry cat food line outpaced category growth nearly threefold, driven by innovation, expanded distribution, and the ongoing Meow Mix Brand Re-Mix marketing campaign. Meow Mix also achieved volume and net sales growth in the quarter.
“In cat food, the Meow Mix brand continued its momentum with an increase in net sales and volume/mix growth in the quarter,” Smucker said. “In dry cat food, the Meow Mix brand outpaced the category, growing sales nearly 3x the category rate. Our results were driven by distribution gains, innovation, and marketing investments behind our multi-year Meow Mix Brand Re-Mix campaign. Outside of dry cat food, we also remain excited for our longer-term opportunity to grow our portfolio across the wet cat food and treats categories. We are significantly under-developed in this approximately US$11 billion growing space and believe the unique equity of the Meow Mix brand and our understanding of consumer behavior gives us significant runway for growth in the future. As a first step we are extending our Gravy Burst dry platform to cat treats with Gravy Burst cat treats shipping now.”
Meanwhile, Milk-Bone experienced a sequential improvement in net sales compared to the prior quarter but still posted a year-over-year decline. The company expects Milk-Bone to return to growth in the second half of the fiscal year. Growth drivers include seasonal innovations, new product formats, and a continued push to highlight functional benefits like protein content. Upcoming innovations include new flavors and an extension of the Jif and Milk-Bone collaboration.
“For the Milk-Bone brand, we delivered sequential improvement in net sales growth versus the prior quarter and anticipate the Milk-Bone brand will return to growth in the back half of the fiscal year,” Smucker said. “Growth will be fueled by our proven strategy to maximize and win everyday-treating, amplify brand love with new pet parents, and expand consumption through impulse opportunities across innovation and seasonals.
“With the leading brand in the dog snacks category, we are fueling the humanization trend through innovation, premiumization, and evolved messaging. We are strengthening our core business value proposition by updating packaging to highlight protein and other functional benefits consumers care about, while increasing our premium offerings with our Milk-Bone Peanut Buttery Bites platform,” he said. “Building on this success, we will be extending the Jif and Milk-Bone brands collaboration with innovation launching early next calendar year. Seasonal innovation also plays a key role in these trends and allows us the opportunity to drive net sales growth through increased dollars per occasion and attract new buyers. Our dog snacks seasonal business is up double-digits versus the prior year, and we just launched a new collection of flavors and formats to drive growth during our highest seasonal period of the year, including: Milk-Bone Dipped Vanilla Sugar Cookie Flavored Biscuits and Milk-Bone Mini’s Holiday Biscuit-Filled Candy Cane. Our leading seasonal business continues to deliver strong growth, and we expect it to double over the long term.”
Looking ahead, Smucker continues to see strong long-term potential in the pet category. Positive pet population trends, increased humanization of pets, and the rise of e-commerce are all expected to support future growth. Notably, the company sees opportunity to expand Meow Mix into wet cat food and treats—categories where it currently holds limited presence but expects to grow by leveraging brand equity and consumer insights.
Although pet food sales lagged the overall company’s 5% comparable net sales growth, the segment's margin strength and brand momentum in cat food suggest underlying resilience.
