Q3 2024 Central Garden & Pet Co Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- Central Garden & Pet Co (CENT) delivered solid third quarter 2024 earnings performance despite a challenging environment, with GAAP EPS of $1.19 and non-GAAP EPS of $1.32.
- The company expanded its gross margin, driven by cost and simplicity projects, including the consolidation of its cushion business with dog beds and moderating inflation.
- Pet segment sales increased by 1% to $508 million, driven by the TDBBS acquisition and growth in professional business, dog, cat, and equine categories.
- E-commerce sales grew significantly, representing approximately 28% of pet sales and 7% of total garden sales, indicating strong online growth.
- The company maintained a strong balance sheet with cash and cash equivalents of $570 million, compared to $333 million a year ago, and no borrowings under its credit facility.
- Net sales declined by 3% compared to the prior year, with organic net sales also decreasing by 3%.
- The garden segment faced a 6% decline in sales, primarily due to unfavorable weather impacting live plant sales and lower foot traffic in key home center customers.
- The company anticipates a write-down of approximately $15 million to $20 million in grass seed inventory due to a significant decrease in market prices.
- Non-GAAP SG&A expenses increased by 5% compared to the prior year, mainly due to the TDBBS acquisition and higher legal costs.
- The pet segment continues to face challenges with declining durable pet product sales, attributed to softer new pet adoptions and macroeconomic pressures affecting consumer discretionary spending.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Central Garden & Pet's Fiscal 2024 Third Quarter Earnings Call. My name is Robert, and I will be your conference operator for today. (Operator Instructions). As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.
I would now like to turn the call over to your host, Friederike Edelmann, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining Central's third quarter fiscal 2024 earnings call. With me on the call today are Beth Springer, Interim Chief Executive Officer; Niko Lahanas, Chief Financial Officer; J.D. Walker, President, Garden Consumer Products; and John Hanson, President, Pet Consumer Products. In a moment, Beth will highlight our key messages, and Niko will provide more details about our results. After the prepared remarks, J.D. and John will join us for Q&A.
Comments made during this call include forward
| Access to All Earning Calls and Stock Analysis | |
| 30-Year Financial on one screen | |
| All-in-one Stock Screener with unlimited filters | |
| Customizable Stock Dashboard | |
| Real Time Insider Trading Transactions | |
| 8,000+ Institutional investors’ 13F holdings | |
| Powerful Excel Add-in and Google sheets Add-on | |
| All data downloadable | |
| Quick customer support | |
| And much more... |
Trustpilot
We'd love to learn more about your experiences on GuruFocus.com and how we can improve!
Take Survey
