Brown-Forman Corp.’s stock
BF.B,
slid 4.7% early Wednesday, after the parent to Jack Daniel’s whiskey posted weaker-than-expected fiscal second-quarter earnings and said a challenging operating environment has it tempering its expectations for the year. The company had net income of $242 million, or 50 cents a share, for the quarter to Oct. 31, up from $227 million, or 47 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Sales rose 1% to $1.107 billion. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 51 cents and sales of $1.149 billion. “While we grew at a slower pace than anticipated, we delivered strong gross margin expansion and continued to invest strongly behind our brands,” Chief Executive Lawson Whiting said in a statement. The company now expects full-year organic sales growth of 3% to 5%, down from guidance of 5% to 7%, offered with first-quarter earnings. Organic sales strip out the impact of foreign exchange and acquisitions. “While we remain optimistic about our prospects for growth of organic net sales and organic operating income in fiscal 2024, evolving global macroeconomic conditions continue to create a challenging operating environment tempering our expectations,” said the statement. The stock has fallen 8.3% in the year to date, while the S&P 500
SPX,
has gained 19%.
