Shares of Newell Brands Inc. NWL, +11.07% surged 3.3% in premarket trading Friday, after the consumer good company, with brands including Rubbermaid, Sharpie, Elmer’s and Mr. Coffee, reported fourth-quarter profit and revenue that beat expectations, while providing a mixed outlook for the current quarter and the full year. Net income fell $96 million, or 22 cents a share, from $127 million, or 30 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, normalized earnings per share of 42 cents beat the FactSet consensus of 32 cents. Sales grew 4.3% to $2.81 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $2.65 billion. Cost of sales jumped 9.1% to $1.97 billion, to knock gross margin down to 29.8% from 32.9%, amid a “significant headwind” from inflation, particularly in resin, sourced finished good, transportation and labor. Looking ahead, the company expects first-quarter adjusted EPS of 26 cents to 28 cents, below the FactSet consensus of 30 cents, and expects revenue of $2.25 billion to $2.30 billion, above analyst expectations of $2.22 billion. Full-year adjusted EPS is expected to be $1.85 to $1.93, surrounding analyst expectations of $1.87, while revenue is expected to be $9.93 billion to $10.13 billion, below the FactSet consensus of $10.47 billion. The stock has dropped 9.7% over the past three months through Thursday, while the S&P 500 SPX, -1.90% has slipped 3.1%.
