Before the opening bell on September 22, packaged food company ConAgra Foods Inc. (CAG) made it known that the company’s profits during the 1Q plunged more than 60% year-over-year. The large disparity is mainly due to last year’s results being bolstered by the sale of the company’s trading and merchandising unit.

For the recent period, the Omaha, Nebraska based company reported net income for the quarter of $165.9M, or $0.37 per share, in sharp contrast to last year’s profit of $442.4M, or $0.94 per share, a decrease in net earnings of nearly 62% year-over-year. The unit sale last year contributed $0.71 per share to the company’s earnings results.

Quarterly revenues declined marginally from last year’s performance, slipping from $3.06B to $2.96B, a decrease in sales of just over 3%.

On average, analysts within the industry were looking for the maker of Healthy Choice, Marie Callender and Orville Redenbacher consumer lines to post a profit of $0.34 per share on quarterly revenues of $3.09B.

Gary Rodkin, CEO at ConAgra remarked on the company’s earnings report, “We are off to a strong start in fiscal 2010. The Consumer Foods segment posted significantly improved operating profits, along with good sales trends across the consumer branded portfolio, and we expect the balance of the year to show strong profits for this segment due to manageable inflation, good cost savings, sales growth, and favorable mix.”

Rodkin later added, “Our Commercial Foods segment is poised for a solid profit performance in line with our expectations, and we are confident we will deliver our raised EPS guidance for this fiscal year.”

Looking deeper into the numbers, ConAgra, which operated in two segments, Consumer Foods and Commercial Foods, witnessed the consumer segment post a slight increase in sales year-over-year, from $1.85B to $1.86B. Overall sales from the unit represented 63% of the company’s overall revenues generated.

ConAgra attributes the less-than-expected increase in consumer sales to a 2% negative impact from the sale of the company’s Slim Jim products, in which there was a plant incident that halted production for a period of time. The segment’s sales results were also affected by an unfavorable exchange rate, which cut into overall sales totals by 1%.

Nevertheless, the consumer segment was able to increase their operating profit from $186.3M to $249.9M, an increase in revenues of more than 34%.

Within the company’s commercial food division, ConAgra viewed sales from the unit drop nearly 9% from last year’s totals, falling from $1.21B to $1.1B. Revenues generated from the segment represented 37% of the company’s overall sales totals. Operating profits from the unit advanced 5.2%, from $133.9M to $140.8M/

Overall operating profits from the combined units surged 22% year-over-year, from $320.2M to $390.7M.

For the remainder of the year, ConAgra raised their outlook and is now expecting annual profits for fiscal 2010 of $1.70 per share. The company previously offered a projection of yearly earnings between $1.63 and $1.66 per share. On average, analysts are looking for ConAgra to post annual earnings in 2010 of $1.66 per share.

“We expect the balance of the year to show strong profits for (the consumer foods) segment due to manageable inflation, good cost savings, sales growth and favorable mix,” CEO Gary Rodkin commented.

Despite an upwardly adjusted outlook for 2010, investors were not influenced by the earnings per share increase, as shares of CAG closed the September 22 session down 1.5%, or $0.33, to conclude at $22.00 per share.

Over the course of a year, the company’s stock has traded within a relatively narrow range, reaching a high of $22.73, reached the day before the company’s earnings announcement, and a low of $13.52 per share, achieved in early December of last year.