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Newell Brands Inc. (NASDAQ:NWL) shares are trading lower on Friday.
The company reported fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 16 cents, beating the street view of 14 cents. Quarterly sales of $1.949 billion (down 6.1% year over year) missed the analyst consensus estimate of $1.961 billion.
The decline in fourth-quarter sales reflected a 3% core sales decline, as well as the impact of unfavorable foreign exchange and business exits.
The Learning & Development segment reported net sales of $628 million, reflecting a 0.4% increase in core sales. The Home & Commercial Solutions segment generated $1.2 billion in net sales, with a 4.6% decline in core sales. Meanwhile, the Outdoor & Recreation segment posted $152 million in net sales, showing a 3.8% decrease in core sales.
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Pricing in international markets to offset inflation and currency movements was a meaningful contributor to the company’s core sales performance.
Adjusted gross margin in the quarter under review increased to 34.6% compared with 31.1% in the prior-year period.
Adjusted operating margin increased to 7.1% compared with 6.4% in the prior year period.
Mark Erceg, Newell Brands Chief Financial Officer, said, “During the fourth quarter we successfully refinanced $1.25 billion of debt at attractive rates as part of an offering which was six times oversubscribed.”
At the end of 2024, Newell Brands had debt outstanding of $4.6 billion and cash and cash equivalents of $198 million, respectively.
In January 2024, the company announced an organizational realignment, under which the company realized annualized pretax savings of $75 million, net of reinvestment, and incurred restructuring and related charges of $52 million.
Outlook: The company expects first-quarter net sales to decrease by 8% to 5%. FY25 sales are expected to fall by 4% to 2%.
For the first quarter, the company sees adjusted loss per share of $0.09 to $0.06 versus the $0.03 EPS estimate and FY25 adjusted EPS to be $0.70 to $0.76 versus the $0.75 estimate.
The company initiated its outlook for FY25 operating cash flow of $450 million to $500 million.
Price Action: NWL shares are trading lower by 27.5% to $7.025 at last check Friday.
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Image via Newell Brands.
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