Shares of Campbell, which owns healthy food brand Bolthouse Farms as well as Pepperidge Farm snacks, were down 3.2 percent at $43.12 in trading before the market opened.

The company said sales rose to $1.85 billion in the fourth quarter ended on Aug. 3 from $1.72 billion a year earlier. Analysts on average were expecting $1.87 billion, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Organic sales, which exclude the effects of acquisitions and currency, fell 5 percent in the U.S. simple meals business, which includes Campbell's soup.

Chief Executive Officer Denise Morrison said the company continued to expect fiscal-year growth below its long-term targets. For fiscal 2015, Campbell expects sales growth of 1 percent to 2 percent and earnings per share of $2.45 to $2.50, excluding special items.

Fourth-quarter net income was $137 million, or 43 cents a share, compared with a year-earlier loss of $158 million, or 50 cents a share.

(Reporting by Anjali Athavaley; Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)

By Anjali Athavaley