Univar Inc. UNVR logged a profit (on a reported basis) of $38.9 million or 28 cents per share in third-quarter 2017 as against a loss of $63 million or 46 cents a year ago.
Barring one-time items, earnings came in at 36 cents per share in the quarter, topping the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 23 cents.
The chemical maker’s revenues rose 2.5% year over year to $2,048.7 million in the reported quarter, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,949 million.
Gross profit rose around 3.8% year over year to $454.8 million in the quarter with gains witnessed across all segments. Adjusted EBITDA margin increased 10 basis points to 7.4%.
Univar Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Segment Review
Revenues from the USA division dipped 3% year over year to $1.2 billion in the reported quarter. Gross profit rose 1.5% to $273.4 million due to the company's sales force execution initiatives and improved mix.
Revenues from the Canada segment went up around 15% to $299.9 million, driven by higher average selling prices and increased volumes. Gross profit rose roughly 1.1% to $56.2 million in the quarter.
The EMEA segment raked in sales of $456.9 million, up 10.8%, helped by higher average selling prices that were partly offset by reduced volumes in lower margin commodity products. Gross profit rose around 10.9% to $102.9 million.
Sales from the Rest of World unit rose 2.5% to $106.9 million. Hurricane Harvey and the earthquakes in Mexico affected the company’s business in Latin America in the quarter. Gross profit grew 9.3% year over year t0o $22.3 million.
Balance Sheet
Univar ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $293.9 million, up around 10% year over year. Long-term debt was $2,872.6 million, down around 4% year over year.
Outlook
The company expects adverse impacts of hurricanes to continue in the fourth quarter. For fourth-quarter 2017, it expects adjusted EBITDA growth of mid-single digits from previous year's figure of $134.5 million.
Price Performance
Univar has significantly underperformed the industry over a year. The company’s shares have lost 5.2% over this period as against the industry’s gain of 16.2%.
Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider
Univar carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
A few better-ranked companies in the basic materials space are FMC Corporation FMC, BHP Billiton Limited BHP and Koppers Holdings Inc. KOP.
FMC Corporation has expected long-term earnings growth of 11.3% and sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
BHP Billiton has expected long-term earnings growth of 5.3%.
Koppers Holdings has expected long-term earnings growth of 18%.
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