Shares of Catalent Inc. CTLT, -24.13% plunged 23.4% toward a record one-day selloff, and enough to pace the S&P 500’s SPX, -0.30% losers, after the contract drug manufacturing company reported fiscal first-quarter profit and revenue that missed expectations and cut its full-year outlook. The stock’s previous record one-day drop was 18.7% on March 16, 2020. For the quarter to Sept. 30, the company reported virtually no net income, or earnings per share, after net income of $84 million, or 49 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of 34 cents was well below the FactSet consensus of 56 cents. Revenue slipped 0.3% to $1.02 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $1.08 billion. Cost of sales rose more than revenue, up 9.0% to $764 million as gross margin contracted to 25.2% from 31.6%. For fiscal 2023, the company cut its guidance ranges for revenue to $4.63 billion to $4.88 billion from $4.98 billion to $5.23 billion, and for adjusted net income to $567 million to $648 million from $660 million to $730 million. The company said new guidance reflects the completion of the Metrics Contract Services acquisition, but also “worsening macroeconomic conditions, including unfavorable foreign exchange rate movement, higher inflation, and lower consumer discretionary spend related; and signs of short-term cash-sensitive decisions by some of our customers.” The stock has plummeted 60.7% year to date, while the SPDR Health Care Select Sector ETF XLV, +0.21% has slipped 5.9% and the S&P 500 SPX, -0.30% has declined 19.0%.
