Church & Dwight Company, Inc. (NYSE:CHD) shares are trading higher on Friday.
The company reported third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 81 cents, beating the analyst consensus estimate of 74 cents.
Quarterly sales of $1.585 billion (+5% year over year) outpaced the Street view of $1.536 billion.
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Metrics
Organic sales increased 3.4% driven by volume growth of 4% partially offset by negative pricing and mix of 0.6%.
“We continue to drive both dollar and volume share gains across most of our brands,” said CEO Rick Dierker.
In the quarter under review, the Domestic Division grew 2.3% organically, with four of the eight power brands growing share.
The International Division’s organic growth was 7.7%, driven by broad-based share gains across subsidiaries and the Global Markets Group.
Church & Dwight stated that the Specialty Products Division also had a strong quarter with organic sales growth of 4.2%.
“With the momentum of higher sales, we also increased our marketing investment as a percentage of sales by 50 basis points versus prior year, helping to further drive consumption and share gains across our brands,” Dierker said. “Our momentum in e-commerce also continued with global online sales representing 23% of total consumer sales in the third quarter versus 21% last year.”
Reported and adjusted gross margin were 45.1%; reported fell 10 bps year over year, adjusted rose 10 bps and beat outlook by 110 bps.
Adjusted margin benefited from productivity programs and higher-margin acquisitions, partly offset by manufacturing and tariff costs despite mitigation. Adjusted income from operations totaled $270.6 million, up $3.4 million, or 1.3%.
As of September 30, total debt was $2.2 billion, and cash on hand was $305.3 million.
Outlook
The firm tightened its fiscal year 2025 adjusted earnings per share outlook to $3.49, compared with the $3.47 analyst view.
Church & Dwight now expects approximately $1.2 billion of cash from operations this year.
The firm projects fourth-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $0.83, beneath the analyst consensus of $0.90.
Price Action: CHD shares are trading higher by 6.41% to $86.97 at last check on Friday.
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