Constellation Brands Crushes Earnings Estimates

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Constellation Brands (NYS: STZ) reported earnings Thursday. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
For the quarter ended Feb. 29 (Q4), Constellation Brands met expectations on revenues and crushed expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue dropped and GAAP earnings per share dropped significantly.


Gross margins increased, operating margins expanded, and net margins dropped.

Revenue details
Constellation Brands booked revenue of $628 million. The seven analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ predicted sales of $626.4 million on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 12% lower than the prior-year quarter's $715.3 million.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
Non-GAAP EPS came in at $0.69. The 11 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted $0.38 per share on the same basis. GAAP EPS of $0.51 for Q4 were 57% lower than the prior-year quarter's $1.19 per share.

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Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
For the quarter, gross margin was 39.2%, 360 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was 17.8%, 330 basis points better than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was 16.4%, 2,270 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $648.6 million. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.39.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $2.76 billion. The average EPS estimate is $1.99.

Investor sentiment
The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 322 members rating the stock outperform and 28 members rating it underperform. Among 93 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 91 give Constellation Brands a green thumbs-up, and two give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Constellation Brands is outperform, with an average price target of $23.20.

At the time thisarticle was published Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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