• Reuters, Tuesday, May 5, 2009 11:15 AM

Kraft Foods, the maker of Oreo cookies, Maxwell House coffee and other top brands, says profit was $662 million, or 45 cents a share, compared with $601 million, or 39 cents a share, a year earlier. Analysts on average forecast 40 cents a share, Brad Dorfman reports.

The company has cut production costs while also increasing advertising and product development to help it garner higher prices and fend off competition from lower-priced private-label competitors.

Sales fell 6.5% to $9.40 billion, hurt by the impact of the stronger dollar, which lessens the dollar-value of sales made overseas. A shift in the Easter holiday to April from March this year also cut into first-quarter sales.

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