Mead Johnson Nutrition beats by $0.11, beats on revs; raises FY14 EPS in-line with consensus
Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.02 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.11 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $0.91; revenues rose 7.3% year/year to $1.11 bln vs the $1.1 bln consensus.
- Co issues guidance for FY14, raises EPS to $3.60-3.72 from prior guidance of $3.50-3.62 vs. $3.62 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate; sees FY14 revs of +8% in constant dollars calc ~ $4.536 bln, may not be comparable to $4.44 bln Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "Of the expected $0.10 increase in earnings per share, approximately two-thirds is attributed to the New Pension Accounting with the remainder the result of stronger anticipated operational performance. To provide a better view of underlying operational performance, pension MTM actuarial gains or losses will be treated as a Specified Item"
- Gross margin for the first quarter of 2014 was 63.6 percent, up from 62.9 percent in the first quarter of the prior year.
- Outlook Details: "We now anticipate constant dollar sales growth of approximately eight percent for the full year 2014, up from seven percent in our prior guidance, on expected stronger revenue momentum," Mr. Jakobsen said. "We are planning for higher demand-generating investments throughout the remainder of the year, despite foreign exchange pressure on our earnings." With the New Pension Accounting changes and stronger underlying business performance, the company has raised guidance and expects full-year non-GAAP EPS to be in the range of $3.60 to $3.72 per diluted share."