Acuity Brands Q2 Profit Beats Estimates; Sales Up 2.7% - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Acuity Brands, Inc. (AYI) reported that its adjusted EPS for the second quarter of fiscal 2019 increased 5.3 percent, to $1.99 compared with adjusted diluted EPS of $1.89 for the year-ago period. On average, 9 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report profit per share of $1.81 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. Adjusted operating profit increased 6.7 percent, to $112.4 million from the year-ago period adjusted operating profit of $105.3 million.

Second-quarter net sales increased 2.7 percent, to $854.4 million compared with the prior-year period. Analysts expected revenue of $878.96 million for the quarter. The company said the year-over-year growth in net sales was due primarily to a sales volume increase of over 3 percent, partially offset by a less than 1 percentage point of net unfavorable changes in product prices and mix of products sold as the benefit from recently announced price increases was more than offset by changes primarily in sales channel mix and to a much lesser degree in the mix of products sold; the realization from recent price increases was estimated to have contributed low single-digit growth to overall net sales for the quarter.

Vernon Nagel, CEO of Acuity Brands, said: "We remain cautiously optimistic for the remainder of fiscal and calendar year 2019 and do not believe that the demand outlook has meaningfully changed from our outlook provided last quarter. Our wide and varied base of customers generally remains positive about current year growth prospects. Many customers continue to have record backlogs though they too are concerned about the timing of releases, particularly for larger projects, and the potential impact that tariffs and higher prices may have on overall demand. Third-party forecasts and leading indicators continue to suggest that the North American lighting market, our primary market, should grow in the low-single digit range in fiscal 2019."