JPMorgan cuts PepsiCo to neutral, price target to $138 from $170
The cut follows PepsiCo's confirmed price increases on chips, dips and soda, and comes days after Deutsche Bank made a similar move.
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Chart: PEP, one-minute prices, three sessions
JPMorgan downgraded PepsiCo to neutral from overweight and lowered its price target to $138 from $170, citing weakness in North America that it says has likely continued to run below management's expectations.
The bank pointed to tracked channel data and PepsiCo's recent price increase announcements as evidence that trends have not improved. It said Frito-Lay North America's salty snacks business has stayed weak despite reformulated ingredients, packaging changes, higher spending and lower prices, and that the recovery appears to have stalled after the first quarter of 2026. JPMorgan expects PepsiCo will need to lean more on productivity gains in the fourth quarter of 2026 to hit the low end of its 5% to 7% earnings per share guidance.
Shares were last quoted at $128.50 in pre-market trading, near a 52-week low of $126.72 and down 25% from their 52-week high, according to Investing.com. Rallies.ai, citing LSEG data, said JPMorgan's new target represents 7.3% upside to the stock's last close, and that 25 analysts on average rate the stock a hold, with a median price target of $153. PepsiCo shares had fallen about 10.5% so far this year through Monday's close, Rallies.ai reported.
JPMorgan's move follows a similar downgrade from Deutsche Bank on September 28, which cut PepsiCo to hold from buy and lowered its price target to $138 from $155, also citing challenges in North American foods, according to GuruFocus. TD Cowen has cut its target to $133 from $145 while keeping a hold rating, and BNP Paribas Exane lowered its target to $161, both pointing to continued demand problems in North America ahead of PepsiCo's third-quarter results, due October 8, Investing.com reported.
The downgrade lands just days after PepsiCo confirmed price increases on chips, dips and soda, a move that on its own had looked like a sign of pricing power. JPMorgan's caution despite those increases suggests concern that softer volumes or rising costs could offset the benefit, a more guarded read than the pricing news alone implied. With the new $138 target sitting close to the stock's current level, the call effectively limits how much upside investors should expect in the near term.