Q4 2024 Constellation Brands Inc Earnings Call Transcript
Key Points
- Constellation Brands Inc (STZ) delivered strong performance in fiscal '24 with comparable earnings per share growth of nearly 9%.
- Net sales increased by 5% at an enterprise level with solid operating leverage resulting in a 7% increase in comparable operating income.
- Beer business drove net sales and operating income growth above 9% and 8%, respectively, both exceeding expectations.
- Modelo Especial became the #1 beer in U.S. dollar sales and the beer business captured 1.1 points of share, driving nearly 70% of the total dollar growth in the beverage alcohol sector.
- Generated $2.8 billion in operating cash flow and reduced net leverage ratio by nearly 0.5 point while returning over $900 million to shareholders.
- Wine and Spirits business faced near-term category headwinds throughout fiscal '24, resulting in declines of approximately 8% for both organic net sales and operating income.
- Ongoing challenges in the Wine and Spirits category are not expected to immediately subside, particularly in the mainstream and premium price segments.
- Wine and Spirits business net sales expected to be relatively stable and operating income to be down 9% to 11% in fiscal '25.
- Incremental investments in media spend, price promotions, and sales capabilities, as well as continued inflationary pressures, are expected to impact Wine and Spirits business.
- Despite strong performance, the company faced a write-off of a bad accrual related to bad receivables in Q4, impacting operating margin by about 100 basis points.
Good day, and welcome to the Constellation Brands Fiscal Year 2024 Fourth Quarter Full Year Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this call is being recorded.
At this time, I'd like to turn the call over to Snehal Shah, Director of Investor Relations. Mr. Shah, you may now begin.
Thank you, Rob. Good morning all, and welcome to Constellation Brands' Year-End Fiscal 2024 Earnings Conference Call. I'm here this morning with Bill Newlands, our CEO; and Garth Hankinson, our CFO.
As a reminder, reconciliations between the most directly comparable GAAP measures and any non-GAAP financial measures discussed on this call are included in today's news release or otherwise available on the company's website at www.cbrands.com.
Please note, when we discuss comparable earnings per share figures for fiscal 2024 and prior fiscal years, we are referring to earnings per share on a comparable basis, excluding Canopy equity and earnings, unless otherwise noted. Please
| 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
