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Greif (GEF) Lags Q2 Earnings & Sales Estimates, Trims View

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The provider of industrial packaging products and services, Greif, Inc. (GEF - Free Report) reported adjusted earnings of 67 cents per share in second-quarter fiscal 2017 (ended Apr 30, 2017), that surged around 42.6% year over year. However, earnings fell short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 71 cents.

Including one-time items, the company posted earnings of 61 cents per share compared to 53 cents per share recorded in the year-ago quarter.

Operational Update

Revenues increased 5.7% year over year to $887.4 million from $839.6 million in the prior-year quarter. Revenues, however, missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $899 million.

Greif Bros. Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

 

Greif Bros. Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Greif Bros. Corporation Quote

Cost of sales increased 6% year over year to $705.5 million. Gross profit grew 4.7% year over year to $181.9 million. Gross margin contracted 20 basis points to 20.5% in the quarter. Selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses went up 2.6% year over year to $97 million. Adjusted operating profit climbed 7.2% year over year to $84.9 million. Adjusted operating margin expanded 20 basis points to 9.6% in the quarter.

Segmental Performance

Rigid Industrial Packaging & Services: This segment reported sales of $624.3 million, up 5.9% from $589.6 million in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted operating profit climbed 11% year over year to $60.3 million from $54.3 million.

Paper Packaging: Sales were up 12.9% year over year to $188.7 million, on the back of growth in volumes and increased sales of specialty products. The segment reported an adjusted operating profit of $20.6 million, down 14.5% year over year, due primarily to increased input costs.

Flexible Products & Services: Sales from this segment declined 12.6% year over year to $66.6 million. A divestiture and foreign currency translation, both adversely affected net sales by $2.7 million and $4.0 million, respectively. The segment reported adjusted operating profit of $2.1 million compared to an operating loss of $1.1 million in the year-earlier quarter.

Land Management: The segment’s sales increased 18% year over year to $7.8 million. Operating income rose 4.35% year over year to $3.3 million.

Financial Position

Greif ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $87 million compared with $103.7 million as of Oct 31, 2016. Cash provided by operating activities decreased to $59.6 million for the fiscal second quarter compared with $83.9 million in the year-ago quarter, due to raw material price increases and accelerated inventory purchases made in advance of those increases. Long-term debt was $1033.6 million as of Apr 30, 2017, compared with $974.6 million as of Oct 31, 2016.

On Jun 6, Greif declared a quarterly dividend of $0.42 per share of Class A Common Stock and $0.63 per share of Class B Common Stock. The dividends are payable on Jul 1 to stockholders of record at the close of business as of Jun 19, 2017.

Guidance

Greif slashed its fiscal 2017 adjusted earnings per share guidance to the range of $2.84–$3.02 from the prior band of $2.78–$3.08. Compared to the adjusted earnings per share of $2.44 in fiscal 2016, the guidance depicts year-over-year growth in the range of 16–24%.

The company also trimmed its fiscal 2017 free cash flow guidance range to $180–$200 million due to the recently approved organic growth expansions in the Rigid Industrial Packaging & Services and Paper Packaging & Services segments.

Share price Performance

In the last one year, Greif has outperformed the Zacks classified Containers-Metal/Glass sub-industry with respect to price performance. The stock gained around 61.4%, while the industry recorded growth of 11.7% over the same time frame.

Greif currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the same sector are AGCO Corporation (AGCO - Free Report) , Altra Industrial Motion Corp. and Parker-Hannifin Corporation (PH - Free Report) . All three stocks flaunt a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

AGCO has an average positive earnings surprise of 40.39% for the trailing four quarters. Altra Industrial Motion generated an average positive earnings surprise of 15.93% over the past four quarters, while Parker-Hannifin has an average positive earnings surprise of 14.94% for the last four quarters.

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