The fourth quarter saw Newell brands post sales and earnings that beat Wall Street analyst estimates.
Net income for the quarter was $96 million, or 22 cents per diluted share, versus $127 million, or 30 cents per diluted share, in the year-prior period, the company stated.
Normalized, or adjusted for certain extraordinary events, net income was $180 million, or 42 cents per diluted share, versus $238 million, or 56 cents per diluted share, in the year-past quarter.
A Yahoo Finance-published analyst consensus estimate for normalized net income was 32 cents with a sales estimate of $2.65 billion.
Net sales were $2.81 billion versus $2.69 billion in the year-previous quarter. Operating income was $168 million versus $248 million in the year-before period while normalized income was $279 million versus $307 million.
Newell reported that core sales grew 5.8% compared with the 2021 quarter with six of eight business units and every major region up. Among the businesses enjoying sales gains were Commercial Solutions, Home Appliances, Home Solutions, Learning & Development and Outdoor & Recreation.
On February 7, Newell announced that the company had signed a definitive agreement to sell the Connected Home & Security business to Resideo Technologies, for gross proceeds of $593 million, subject to working capital and transaction adjustments. The company anticipates using the after-tax proceeds toward debt paydown and share repurchase, it noted.
For the full year, net income was $572 million, or $1.34 per diluted share, versus a net loss of $770 million, or $1.82 per diluted share, in the year prior, Newell maintained.
Normalized net income was $778 million, or $1.82 per diluted share, versus $760 million, or $1.79 per diluted share, in the year past.
Net sales were $10.59 billion versus $9.39 billion in the year previous. Operating income was $946 million versus an operating loss of $634 in the year before while normalized net income was $1.17 billion versus $1.04 billion.
“We achieved an important milestone in 2021, as we returned the company to core sales growth, with strong results across each business unit and geographic region,” said Ravi Saligram, Newell Brands president and CEO, in announcing the financial results. “I am proud of the way our team has navigated through a difficult operating and inflationary backdrop, delivering more than 12% growth in both core sales and normalized operating income, with further improvement on complexity reduction, productivity, cash conversion cycle and a robust innovation pipeline. As we look to 2022, we will continue to act with speed and agility to address external headwinds, with a laser focus on gross margins, and execute on our strategic objective to drive sustainable and profitable growth, while building competitive advantage and serving as a force for good. I continue to believe that Newell’s best days are ahead of us and that our focused and deliberate actions will drive strong shareholder returns.”
Chris Peterson, Newell CFO and president, business operations, added, “In the fourth quarter, we delivered core sales growth of 5.8 percent, building on the strong momentum of the prior five quarters. Effective cost management, decisive actions to mitigate the impact of inflation, and a stronger top-line drove upside to our expectations on operating profit. We strengthened the balance sheet, exiting 2021 with a 3.0x leverage ratio, and reduced the cash conversion cycle, even as we decided to strategically build inventories. We expect 2022 to mark another year of progress, despite a challenging operating environment. For 2022, we forecast core sales growth of flat to 2 percent, normalized operating margin expansion of 50 to 80 basis points, and normalized diluted EPS of $1.85 to $1.93.”
