Mondelez International (MDLZ) — Company Research

Last Updated: 29 June 2026

Mondelēz International (NASDAQ: MDLZ) is the Chicago-based global snacking giant behind Oreo, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Milka, Ritz, LU, Toblerone and Clif Bar, selling in more than 150 countries. Full-year 2025 net revenues reached $38.537bn, up 5.8% (organic +4.3%), but profitability was hit hard by record cocoa costs: GAAP operating income fell 44.1% and adjusted EPS dropped 14.6% in constant currency to $2.92. Into 2026, the picture is improving — Q1 organic revenue grew 3.0%, cocoa costs are showing signs of easing on a stronger West African harvest, and the company has raised its dividend again. This report sets out how Mondelēz makes money, the primary-source financials, the valuation, and the risks that come with a chocolate-heavy portfolio. See live pricing on our Live Charts and reporting dates on the Economic Calendar.

1. Company Snapshot

Field	Value
Ticker / Exchange	MDLZ / NASDAQ
Headquarters	Chicago, Illinois, USA
CEO	Dirk Van de Put (Chair & CEO)
CFO	Amit Banati (EVP & CFO, effective 1 July 2026)
Employees	~91,000
Fiscal year end	31 December
FY2025 net revenues	$38,537m (+5.8% YoY; organic +4.3%)
FY2025 GAAP EPS (diluted)	$1.89
FY2025 adjusted EPS	$2.92
Market cap	~$77.9bn (late June 2026)
Dividend	$0.50 per share quarterly (~$2.00 annualised)

2. Bull and Bear Case

Bull Case

• Iconic global snacking scale: A portfolio of category-leading biscuit and chocolate brands (Oreo, Cadbury, Milka, Ritz, LU, Toblerone) across 150+ countries gives Mondelēz durable pricing power, demonstrated by 5.8% reported and 4.3% organic revenue growth in 2025 despite extreme input-cost pressure.
• Emerging-market engine: Emerging markets grew 6.3% in Q1 2026, led by India, Brazil and China, and remain the company's structural growth driver as snacking penetration rises with incomes.
• Cocoa cost relief in sight: A stronger West African cocoa harvest points to easing of the input headwind that crushed 2025 margins, which would allow gross margin to recover as elevated hedged costs roll off.
• Strong cash returns: Mondelēz generated $4.5bn of operating cash flow and $3.2bn of free cash flow in 2025, returned $4.9bn to shareholders, and has just raised its quarterly dividend to $0.50 per share, guiding to ~$3bn free cash flow in 2026.

Bear Case

• Cocoa cost shock: Record cocoa prices drove full-year 2025 GAAP operating income down 44.1% and adjusted EPS down 14.6% in constant currency; the chocolate-heavy mix leaves margins exposed to a volatile soft commodity.
• Volume elasticity: Volume/mix fell 3.7% in 2025 and 0.5% in Q1 2026 as price increases met consumer resistance, raising questions about how much further pricing can offset costs without losing units.
• Balance-sheet leverage: Total debt was $21.0bn against $1.5bn of cash at 31 March 2026 (net debt $19.5bn), a meaningful load in a higher-rate environment.
• Leadership and systems transition: A new CFO (Amit Banati) takes over on 1 July 2026 as Luca Zaramella moves to COO, alongside a multi-year ERP system implementation — change that adds execution risk during a difficult cost cycle.

3. Business Segments

Mondelēz reports across four geographic regions. Europe is the largest, reflecting its strong chocolate and biscuit franchises, while AMEA and Latin America provide the fastest emerging-market growth. The figures below are full-year 2025 net revenues.

Segment	% of revenue	What it is
Europe	39.0% ($15,027m)	Largest region — chocolate (Milka, Cadbury, Toblerone) and biscuits (LU, Oreo) across Western and Eastern Europe.
North America	27.7% ($10,679m)	Biscuits and snacks led by Oreo, Ritz, Chips Ahoy! and Tate's Bake Shop.
AMEA (Asia, Middle East & Africa)	20.6% ($7,932m)	High-growth emerging markets including India and China; biscuits, chocolate and gum.
Latin America	12.7% ($4,899m)	Brazil, Mexico and the region — powders, biscuits and confectionery with strong pricing.

4. Business Model and Economics

How it makes money. Mondelēz sells branded packaged snacks — primarily biscuits and chocolate, plus baked snacks, gum and candy — through grocery, convenience, e-commerce and traditional trade. Its moat is brand equity and distribution: leading shelf positions for global "power brands" combined with deep local brands, which together support consistent pricing and high repeat purchase.

Unit economics. Adjusted gross margin was 37.8% in 2024 but compressed sharply in 2025 (adjusted operating income margin fell to 13.2%) as cocoa and other input costs spiked. The company's playbook is to offset cost inflation with net pricing, productivity and mix, while protecting volume through brand investment — a balance that became much harder in the 2025 cocoa shock. When commodity costs normalise, the operating leverage works in reverse and margins recover.

Capital allocation. Mondelēz is a cash-generative, dividend-growth business: it produced $4.5bn of operating cash flow in 2025, pays a rising dividend (just lifted to $0.50 per quarter), and buys back stock, while carrying ~$21bn of total debt used to fund acquisitions and returns.

5. Financial Health

All figures below are from Mondelēz's quarterly and full-year earnings releases (most recently Q1 2026 on 28 April 2026 and Q4/FY2025 on 3 February 2026). The fiscal year ends 31 December.

Fiscal Year	Revenue	YoY %	GAAP EPS	Adjusted EPS	Dividend/share	Long-term debt (YE)
FY2021	$28,720m	+8.0%	$3.04	$2.87	~$1.33	—
FY2022	$31,496m	+9.7%	$1.96	$2.91	~$1.47	—
FY2023	$36,016m	+14.3%	$3.62	$3.08	~$1.62	$16,887m
FY2024	$36,441m	+1.2%	$3.42	$3.36	~$1.79	$15,664m
FY2025	$38,537m	+5.8%	$1.89	$2.92	~$1.94	$17,222m

Quarterly progression (most recent first; Q1 2026 is the first quarter of the current fiscal year, followed by the four quarters of FY2025):

Quarter	Revenue	Adjusted EPS	GAAP EPS
Q1 2026 (Mar 2026)	$10,080m	$0.67	$0.44
Q4 2025 (Dec 2025)	$10,496m	$0.72	$0.51
Q3 2025 (Sep 2025)	$9,744m	$0.73	$0.57
Q2 2025 (Jun 2025)	$8,984m	$0.73	$0.49
FY2025 total (Q1–Q4 2025)	$38,537m	$2.92	$1.89

Revenue has compounded steadily — from $28.7bn in 2021 to $38.5bn in 2025 — but earnings were highly volatile in 2025 as cocoa costs surged: GAAP operating income fell to $3,548m and adjusted EPS to $2.92. Note that 2025 GAAP EPS of $1.89 was further depressed by unfavourable mark-to-market swings on commodity and currency derivatives and pension-settlement losses, so it understates underlying profitability versus the $2.92 adjusted figure. The balance sheet carries long-term debt of $17,222m at year-end 2025 (total debt $21.0bn including short-term borrowings and current maturities), against $2,125m of cash.

6. Valuation

Raw metrics, June 2026. Not opinions on whether the stock is cheap or expensive.

Metric	Value
Market cap	~$77.9bn (price ~$60.71, late June 2026)
Trailing P/E (GAAP)	~32x (price ~$60.71 ÷ FY2025 GAAP EPS $1.89) — depressed by mark-to-market derivative losses and pension settlements; on adjusted EPS of $2.92 it is ~21x
P/E (forward)	~20x (price ~$60.71 ÷ FY2026 adjusted EPS of ~$2.98–$3.13, from management's flat-to-+5% constant-currency guidance on the $2.92 base plus a ~$0.06 currency tailwind)
P/S (TTM)	~2.0x (market cap ~$77.9bn ÷ FY2025 revenue $38.537bn)
Enterprise value	~$97.4bn (market cap ~$77.9bn + total debt $21.024bn − cash $1.524bn per the 31 Mar 2026 balance sheet)
EV/EBITDA (TTM)	~20x on GAAP EBITDA (EV ~$97.4bn ÷ EBITDA ~$4.9bn = FY2025 operating income $3,548m + D&A $1,358m). On adjusted EBITDA (~$6.4bn, using adjusted operating income) it is ~15x; GAAP is depressed by mark-to-market derivative losses
P/FCF	~24x (market cap ~$77.9bn ÷ FY2025 free cash flow $3.2bn; FCF = operating cash flow $4.5bn − capex ~$1.3bn; management guides ~$3bn FCF for 2026)
52-week high	$71.15
52-week low	$51.20
Short interest (% of float)	~2.5% of float (most recent reported; ~32.4m shares)
Days to cover	~3 days

7. What They Are Building

Mondelēz's strategy is to lead the future of snacking by concentrating investment behind its biscuit and chocolate "power brands" and its highest-growth markets. The company is pushing premiumisation and well-being variants, expanding distribution in emerging markets (where it is adding routes-to-market in India, Brazil and China), and investing in brand marketing and innovation even through the cocoa-cost squeeze. Operationally, it is part-way through a multi-year ERP system implementation intended to modernise its finance and supply-chain systems by the end of 2028, and it continues to reshape the portfolio through bolt-on acquisitions and selective divestitures in snacking-adjacent categories. The near-term emphasis is protecting volumes and brand health while pricing for cocoa inflation, so that margins can rebuild as input costs ease.

8. Competitive Landscape

Mondelēz competes with the world's largest food and snacking companies across biscuits, chocolate and broader packaged foods. Market caps are as of late June 2026.

Peer	Market cap (Jun 2026)	Key 2025 metric
Nestlé (NSRGY)	~$265bn	World's largest food company; confectionery, coffee, nutrition
PepsiCo (PEP)	~$194bn	~$92bn revenue; Frito-Lay snacks and beverages
Mondelēz (MDLZ)	~$78bn	FY2025 revenue $38.5bn; global biscuits & chocolate
The Hershey Company (HSY)	~$36bn	US chocolate leader; strong seasonal franchise
Kraft Heinz (KHC)	~$27bn	Packaged foods; mid single-digit margins, restructuring
General Mills (GIS)	~$19bn	Cereals and snacks; defensive packaged-food peer

Within snacking, Mondelēz's closest direct rivals on chocolate and biscuits are Nestlé, Hershey, Mars and Ferrero, while it competes for shelf space and consumer wallet against PepsiCo's Frito-Lay in salty snacks. Its global brand portfolio and emerging-market footprint distinguish it from more US-centric peers.

9. Leadership and Ownership

Mondelēz is led by Dirk Van de Put, who has served as Chief Executive Officer since 2017 and as Chair since 2018. The most significant recent change is in the finance seat: on 15 June 2026 the company named Amit Banati — previously CFO of Kenvue — as Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, effective 1 July 2026, while long-serving CFO Luca Zaramella moves to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer, taking responsibility for the four regions, sales, marketing and supply chain. The reshuffle, first announced in late January 2026, is a notable leadership transition during a difficult cost cycle.

No material open-market insider buying or selling has been disclosed in recent Form 4 filings; routine equity-compensation grants and vestings are the principal insider activity, and the company is institutionally owned with no controlling shareholder.

10. Key Risks

• Commodity / cocoa costs (Input costs): Cocoa is the dominant swing factor; record prices drove 2025 margins and adjusted EPS sharply lower, and renewed cost spikes would hit a chocolate-heavy portfolio hard.
• Volume elasticity (Demand): Volume/mix has declined as pricing rises (−3.7% in 2025); further price-led growth risks losing units if consumers trade down or shrink baskets.
• Currency exposure (Macro): With most revenue outside the US, a strong dollar materially reduces reported revenue and EPS, as seen in the constant-currency versus reported gaps through 2024–25.
• Balance-sheet leverage (Balance sheet): Total debt of ~$21.0bn against $1.5bn of cash means rising rates or refinancing increase interest costs and constrain flexibility.
• Execution and transition (Operational): A new CFO from 1 July 2026, a COO reshuffle and a multi-year ERP implementation running to 2028 add execution risk during a fragile margin recovery.
• Competition and private label (Competitive): Intense competition from Nestlé, Hershey, Mars, PepsiCo and growing private-label penetration can pressure share and pricing in key categories.

11. Recent Developments

• 28 Apr 2026 — Q1 2026 results. Net revenues rose 8.2% to $10,080m (organic +3.0%), GAAP EPS increased 41.9% to $0.44 and adjusted EPS was $0.67, beating expectations; emerging markets grew 6.3%.
• 15 Jun 2026 — New CFO named. Mondelēz appointed Amit Banati (ex-Kenvue) as EVP and CFO effective 1 July 2026, with Luca Zaramella moving to EVP and Chief Operating Officer.
• June 2026 — Dividend raised. The Board declared a regular quarterly dividend of $0.50 per share, payable 14 July 2026 to holders of record on 30 June 2026.
• June 2026 — Cocoa cost relief signs. A stronger West African cocoa harvest pointed to easing input-cost pressure on the chocolate portfolio after the elevated prices of 2025.
• 03 Feb 2026 — Q4 and FY2025 results. Full-year net revenues were $38,537m (+5.8%; organic +4.3%) but adjusted EPS fell 14.6% in constant currency to $2.92 on record cocoa costs; the company guided 2026 to flat-to-+5% adjusted EPS growth.

12. Key Dates

• 01 Jul 2026 — Amit Banati becomes EVP and Chief Financial Officer
• 14 Jul 2026 — Quarterly dividend of $0.50/share paid (record date 30 June 2026)
• 28 Jul 2026 — Expected Q2 2026 earnings release
• Expected October 2026 — Q3 2026 earnings release

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