Newell Rubbermaid Q3 Profit Beats Estimates; Backs FY Goals - Quick Facts

(RTTNews) - Consumer and commercial products company Newell Rubbermaid, Inc. (NWL) posted higher third-quarter reported net income of $193.3 million, or $0.66 per share, compared with last year's $108.3 million, or $0.37 per share, helped by a gain on the sale of its Hardware business.

For the period, normalized net income was $151.6 million, compared with $136.5 million a year ago, and normalized earnings per share of $0.52 rose 10.6 percent from the prior year's $0.47, due mainly to improved operating income, lower interest expense and a lower tax rate. On average, 15 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings per share of $0.49 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Net sales were $1.49 billion, a 2.1 percent increase, versus the prior year's $1.46 billion, while 11 analysts estimated revenues of $1.50 billion. Excluding 120 basis points of negative foreign currency, core sales grew by 3.3 percent.

For full year 2013, Newell Rubbermaid confirmed its guidance for core sales growth, normalized operating margin, normalized per-share earnings, by still expecting core sales increase of 2 to 4 percent; and normalized earnings of $1.80 - $1.84 per share. Fifteen analysts project annual earnings of $1.82 per share.

In addition, the board has authorized a $350 million accelerated share repurchase plan in October 2013. This $350 million is incremental to the current $300 million repurchase plan which was authorized in 2011. Looking ahead, the company said it is on track to realize cumulative annualized cost savings of $270 million - $325 million by the second quarter of 2015 related to Project Renewal; while the majority of these savings would be reinvested in the business to strengthen brand building and selling capabilities and accelerate growth.