Mondelez CEO: THIS was key to earnings beat

Mondelez International (NASDAQ: MDLZ)'s catalyst to better-than-expected earnings and revenue is a simple one, Chairman and CEO Irene Rosenfeld said Wednesday.

"A key driver on that was the aggressive focus we've had on cost savings, both in overhead as well as in supply chains," she said in a CNBC " Squawk Alley " interview.

Mondelez is currently in the middle of a plan to reduce costs by about $3 billion by the end of 2018. One of the measures being taken involves opening more efficient manufacturing plants.

The maker of Oreo cookies and Cadbury chocolates reported third-quarter earnings per share of 42 cents on revenue of $6.85 billion.

Wall Street expected Mondelez to post profit per share of 41 cents on revenue of $6.81 billion, according to a Thomson Reuters consensus estimate.

Mondelez also saw higher organic sales in emerging markets, which account for about 40 percent of its business. However, the slowdown in these markets is still concerning to the company, Rosenfeld said.

"There's no question that emerging markets are somewhat weaker than they were a year ago," she said.

"We are continuing to invest in the face of this slowdown so we can be well-positioned as those markets recover, but there's no question that we've been able to adapt our operating model to manage those markets as we see the volatility and move our money to places where we can get the best returns."

Shares of Mondelez were lower midday Wednesday.

— Reuters contributed to this report.

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