McCormick & Co Third Quarter Earnings Sneak Peek

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component McCormick & Co (NYSE:MKC) will unveil its latest earnings on Thursday, September 27, 2012. McCormick & Company manufactures flavor products including spices, herbs, extracts, seasonings, flavorings, and other food products.

McCormick & Co Earnings Preview Cheat Sheet

Wall St. Earnings Expectations: The average analyst estimate is for profit of 76 cents per share, a rise of 10.1% from the company’s actual earnings for the year-ago quarter. During the past three months, the average estimate has moved down from 77 cents. Between one and three months ago, the average estimate moved down. It has been unchanged at 76 cents during the last month. Analysts are projecting profit to rise by 7.4% compared to last year’s $3.05.

Past Earnings Performance: Last quarter, the company missed estimates by one cent, coming in at net income of 60 cents per share versus a mean estimate of profit of 61 cents per share. In the first quarter, the company beat estimates by 2 cents.

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A Look Back: In the second quarter, profit rose 9.2% to $80.4 million (60 cents a share) from $73.6 million (55 cents a share) the year earlier, but fell short analyst expectations. Revenue rose 11.4% to $984 million from $883.7 million.

Wall St. Revenue Expectations: On average, analysts predict $989.6 million in revenue this quarter, a rise of 7.5% from the year-ago quarter. Analysts are forecasting total revenue of $4.06 billion for the year, a rise of 9.7% from last year’s revenue of $3.7 billion.

Stock Price Performance: Between June 27, 2012 and September 21, 2012, the stock price rose $4.07 (6.9%), from $59.09 to $63.16. The stock price saw one of its best stretches over the last year between June 7, 2012 and June 19, 2012, when shares rose for nine straight days, increasing 6.1% (+$3.36) over that span. It saw one of its worst periods between July 30, 2012 and August 7, 2012 when shares fell for seven straight days, dropping 2.6% (-$1.57) over that span.

Key Stats:

The company enters this earnings announcement with substantial revenue momentum. The company has averaged year-over-year revenue growth of 14.1% over the last four quarters.

After some good news last quarter, the company is trying to build on the result with this upcoming earnings announcement. Net income fell in the third quarter of the last fiscal year, the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year and the first quarter before snapping that run with a profit increase in the second quarter.

Analyst Ratings: With seven analysts rating the stock a buy, none rating it a sell and six rating the stock a hold, there are indications of a bullish stance by analysts.

Balance Sheet Analysis: The company’s current ratio of assets to liabilities came in at 1.3 last quarter. The current ratio is an indication of a firm’s liquidity and ability to meet creditor demands and generally, for every dollar the company owes in the short term, it has that figure available in assets that can be converted to cash in the short term.

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(Company fundamentals by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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