As the Q1 earnings season wraps, let’s dig into this quarter’s best and worst performers in the shelf-stable food industry, including The Marzetti Company (NASDAQ: MZTI) and its peers.

As America industrialized and moved away from an agricultural economy, people faced more demands on their time. Packaged foods emerged as a solution offering convenience to the evolving American family, whether it be canned goods or snacks. Today, Americans seek brands that are high in quality, reliable, and reasonably priced. Furthermore, there's a growing emphasis on health-conscious and sustainable food options. Packaged food stocks are considered resilient investments. People always need to eat, so these companies can enjoy consistent demand as long as they stay on top of changing consumer preferences. The industry spans from multinational corporations to smaller specialized firms and is subject to food safety and labeling regulations.

The 17 shelf-stable food stocks we track reported a mixed Q1. As a group, revenues were in line with analysts’ consensus estimates while next quarter’s revenue guidance was 11.6% below.

While some shelf-stable food stocks have fared somewhat better than others, they have collectively declined. On average, share prices are down 3.2% since the latest earnings results.

The Marzetti Company (NASDAQ: MZTI)

Known for its frozen garlic bread and Parkerhouse rolls, The Marzetti Company (NASDAQ: MZTI) sells bread, dressing, and dips to the retail and food service channels.

The Marzetti Company reported revenues of $451.8 million, flat year on year. This print fell short of analysts’ expectations by 2.6%. Overall, it was a disappointing quarter for the company with a significant miss of analysts’ EPS and EBITDA estimates.

CEO David A. Ciesinski commented, “We were pleased to report record-high gross profit in the quarter despite the decline in net sales. In our Retail segment, our category-leading frozen bread brands performed well as sales of our New York BakeryTM frozen garlic bread products continued to grow and increase market share while sales of our Sister Schubert’s® dinner rolls benefited from the pull-forward of demand due to the earlier Easter holiday. These sales gains were more than offset by the impacts of category softness and reduced sales into the club channel. In the Foodservice segment, reported net sales increased 1.5% while Adjusted Foodservice Net Sales, which exclude non-core TSA sales, grew 1.8%, led by higher demand from several of our core national chain restaurant accounts.”

The market seems disappointed with the results as the stock is down 6.8% since reporting and currently trades at $115.92.

Read our full report on The Marzetti Company here, it’s free.

Best Q1: Hershey (NYSE: HSY)

Best known for its milk chocolate bar and Hershey's Kisses, Hershey (NYSE: HSY) is an iconic company known for its chocolate products.

Hershey reported revenues of $3.10 billion, up 10.6% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 2.4%. The business had a very strong quarter with a solid beat of analysts’ EBITDA and organic revenue estimates.

Although it had a fine quarter compared to its peers, the market seems unhappy with the results as the stock is down 5.9% since reporting. It currently trades at $178.02.

Is now the time to buy Hershey? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free.

Weakest Q1: BellRing Brands (NYSE: BRBR)

Spun out of Post Holdings in 2019, Bellring Brands (NYSE: BRBR) offers protein shakes, nutrition bars, and other products under the PowerBar, Premier Protein, and Dymatize brands.

BellRing Brands reported revenues of $598.7 million, up 1.8% year on year, falling short of analysts’ expectations by 1.7%. It was a disappointing quarter as it posted full-year EBITDA guidance missing analysts’ expectations and a significant miss of analysts’ adjusted operating income estimates.

As expected, the stock is down 32.6% since the results and currently trades at $11.70.

Read our full analysis of BellRing Brands’s results here.

Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ: SMPL)

Best known for its Atkins brand that was inspired by the popular diet of the same name, Simply Good Foods (NASDAQ: SMPL) is a packaged food company whose offerings help customers achieve their healthy eating or weight loss goals.

Simply Good Foods reported revenues of $326 million, down 9.4% year on year. This result lagged analysts’ expectations by 5.2%. It was a softer quarter as it also logged full-year EBITDA guidance missing analysts’ expectations and revenue guidance for next quarter missing analysts’ expectations significantly.

Simply Good Foods had the weakest performance against analyst estimates and weakest full-year guidance update among its peers. The stock is down 9.4% since reporting and currently trades at $13.06.

Read our full, actionable report on Simply Good Foods here, it’s free.

Utz (NYSE: UTZ)

Tracing its roots back to 1921 when Bill and Salie Utz began making potato chips in their kitchen, Utz Brands (NYSE: UTZ) offers salty snacks such as potato chips, tortilla chips, pretzels, cheese snacks, and ready-to-eat popcorn, among others.

Utz reported revenues of $361.3 million, up 2.6% year on year. This number met analysts’ expectations. It was a strong quarter as it also recorded a solid beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates and an impressive beat of analysts’ adjusted operating income estimates.

The stock is down 1.5% since reporting and currently trades at $7.57.

Read our full, actionable report on Utz here, it’s free.

Market Update

Late in 2025 into early 2026, there was hand-wringing around artificial intelligence. For software companies, the fear was that AI would erode pricing power and compress margins as new tools made it easier to replicate what once required expensive enterprise platforms. Crypto investors had their own version of the same anxiety: if AI agents could trade, allocate capital, and manage wallets autonomously, what exactly was the long-term value of today’s crypto infrastructure?

These concerns triggered a noticeable rotation away from these sectors and into safer havens. But markets rarely dwell on one narrative for long. Spring 2026 came, and the focus shifted abruptly from technological disruption to geopolitical risk. The US’ conflict with Iran became the dominant driver of market psychology, and when geopolitics takes center stage, the script changes quickly. Investors stop debating growth rates and start worrying about oil supply, inflation, and global stability.

Want to invest in winners with rock-solid fundamentals? Check out our Top 6 Stocks and add them to your watchlist. These companies are poised for growth regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate.