Citing weak demand for coffee and pet food in some markets, along with a strong Swiss franc, the Swiss food biggie Nestle announced on Thursday that its nine-month sales dipped 2 percent to 79.5 billion Swiss francs, as against a year earlier sales figures of 81.36 billion francs.

The analysts' expectations for the sales during the period were 80.27 billion francs.

However, the twice-a-year reporting company also pointed out that on a comparable basis, which strips out currency swings and asset sales, its sales during the nine-month-period increased
3.6 percent, largely due to an increase in volumes or 'real internal growth.'

With Nestle intending to step up its present share buyback program, 7 billion francs' worth of shares will be bought back by the company, so as to facilitate a qucik completion of its current 25 billion-franc buyback program.

Noting that Nestle's third-quarter performance was quite robust, Andrew Wood, senior research analyst at Sanford C. Bernstein, said in a note to clients: "We believe that the third quarter performance is a signal that Nestlé's top-line is moving in the right direction."

Wood further added: "This progress, in addition to an acceleration of the current share buyback plan, should lead to a re-rating of Nestlé's stock, which despite a strong move ahead of the reporting, continues to be highly under-valued, trading at an unjustified discount to its peers."