Japanese green tea giant Ito En surges 8%, defying a broad market sell-off

A close up view of a bottle of Oi Ocha unsweetened green tea with an image of Japanese professional baseball pitcher and designated hitter for the Los Angeles Dodgers, Shohei Ohtani. Ohtani is a Global Ambassador of ITO EN's green tea brand, 'Oi Ocha'. (Photo by Erica Denhoff/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)Icon Sportswire | Icon Sportswire | Getty ImagesShares of Japanese beverage maker Ito En surged more than 8% Wednesday, following its fiscal first-quarter results, bucking a broader drop in the country's stocks.The maker of Oi Ocha green tea on Tuesday reported operating profit of 10.2 billion yen ($63.7 million) for the three months from May through July, up 22% from a year earlier. Revenue rose 3.3% to 135.18 billion yen over the same period.Operating profit came in well above Citi's forecast of 7.7 billion yen. The bank had expected profit to decline on the back of higher raw material and tea leaf costs, as well as expenses related to the company's vending machine business.More than half of the 2.5 billion yen profit beat was powered by the company's vending machine business, which posted a 4% operating profit margin compared to the bank's expectations for a loss. The compan...