Acuity Brands' (AYI) Q2 Earnings Miss, Sales Beat Estimates
Acuity Brands, Inc. AYI reported second-quarter fiscal 2018 adjusted earnings of $1.89 per share, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.11 by 10.4%. Earnings, however, increased 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. The improvement was due to the increase in net sales driven by greater shipments of its Atrius-based luminaires to customers in certain key vertical applications.
Sales
Net sales during the quarter were $832.1 million, ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $800.2 million. The reported figure also increased 3.4% year over year.
The upside was mainly attributable to more than a 6% increase in sales volume and a 1% favorable impact from changes in foreign exchange rates. These were partially offset by a 3.5% unfavorable change in product prices and mix of products sold (price/mix).
LED-based product sales represented approximately two-thirds of fiscal second-quarter net sales.
Acuity Brands Inc Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Acuity Brands Inc Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise | Acuity Brands Inc Quote
Operating Highlights
Gross profit margin was 40.2% in the quarter under review, reflecting a decrease of 150 basis points (bps) year over year. Adjusted operating margin was 12.5%, down 290 bps year over year.
Adjusted selling, distribution and administrative or SG&A expenses were $231.3 million or 27.8% of quarterly net sales compared with $211.9 million or 26.3% a year ago.
Financials
Cash and cash equivalents, as of Feb 28, 2018, were $229.8 million, up from $311.1 million in fiscal 2017.
Net cash provided by operating activities was $178.3 million in the first six months of fiscal 2018, compared with $90 million a year ago.
Fiscal 2018 View
Acuity Brands remains cautious about the current weakness in the lighting industry that has induced short-term challenges. However, the company remains hopeful of an improvement in conditions later on in calendar 2018. So it looks to continue investing in attractive longer-term opportunities.
The company remains cautious about labor shortage in the construction industry and uncertainty related to both infrastructure spending as well as federal regulatory and trade policies, in the upcoming quarters.
Zacks Rank
Acuity Brands currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).
A few better-ranked stocks in the Zacks Construction sector are Beazer Homes USA, Inc. BZH, KB Home KBH and D.R. Horton, Inc. DHI. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Beazer Homes, a Zacks Rank #1 stock, is expected to witness 112.5% growth in earnings this quarter.
KB Home, also a Zacks Rank #1 company, is expected to see earnings growth of 45.4% this year.
D.R. Horton, a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock, is expected to witness 30.7% increase in fiscal 2018 earnings.
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