SAN DIEGO - WD-40 Company (NASDAQ:WDFC), the global supplier of maintenance and cleaning products, reported robust third-quarter earnings, surpassing Wall Street's expectations.
The company's earnings per share (EPS) came in at $1.46, outperforming the analyst estimate of $1.39. Revenue for the quarter also exceeded forecasts, reaching $155 million against the anticipated $148.1 million.
The positive earnings release propelled WD-40's stock upwards by 6%. The earnings beat was primarily driven by a 9% increase in net sales compared to the same quarter last year, with maintenance product sales seeing a notable 10% rise. The company's gross margin improved to 53.1%, up from 50.6% in the prior year's fiscal quarter.
WD-40's president and CEO, Steve Brass, attributed the strong quarter to significant volume growth across all trade blocs and a successful expansion into Brazil. "Our maintenance product sales achieved impressive growth of over 10 percent for both the third quarter and year-to-date, aligning with our established long-term growth objectives," Brass commented.
Looking ahead, WD-40 reiterated its fiscal year 2024 guidance, projecting net sales growth of 6 to 12 percent, with expectations of net sales ranging from $570 million to $600 million on a non-GAAP constant currency basis. This forecast is slightly ahead of the consensus estimate of $578 million. The company anticipates a gross margin between 51.5 and 53 percent and projects net income to be between $67.7 million and $71.8 million. Diluted earnings per share are expected to fall between $5.00 and $5.30, based on an estimated 13.6 million weighted average shares outstanding.
Sara Hyzer, WD-40's vice president of finance and chief financial officer, expressed confidence in achieving the upper end of the gross margin range for the fiscal year. "We remain on track to meet our fiscal year 2024 guidance but we are currently projecting that we will end the fiscal year closer to the upper end of our range for gross margin," said Hyzer.
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