Mueller Water Products, Inc. (MWA) Tops Q4 EPS by 5c

Mueller Water Products, Inc. (NYSE: MWA) reported Q4 EPS of $0.19, $0.05 better than the analyst estimate of $0.14. Revenue for the quarter came in at $301.4 million versus the consensus estimate of $284.73 million.

GUIDANCE:

Mueller Water Products, Inc. sees Q1 2024 revenue of $245-255 million, versus the consensus of $266 million.

• The Company anticipates that channel and customer inventory levels will be substantially normalized by the end of the first quarter of fiscal 2024. At the end of fiscal 2023, iron gate valve and hydrant backlogs were normalized, while the backlog for service brass products remained elevated. Due to these factors, the Company expects to face volume headwinds in fiscal 2024 relative to the prior year and anticipates that consolidated net sales will decrease between 3 and 8 percent as compared with fiscal 2023. For fiscal 2024, consolidated net sales seasonality is expected to be closer to pre-pandemic patterns. For example, net sales for the first half of the fiscal year averaged approximately 45 percent of consolidated net sales for the 5-year period from 2015 to 2019. For the first quarter of fiscal 2024, the Company anticipates its consolidated net sales to range between $245 million and $255 million.

The Company continues to evaluate the business, financial and related impacts of the cybersecurity incident announced on October 28, 2023, so the full costs of the incident have not yet been determined. However, the Company anticipates the incident will negatively impact the Company's results. Due to the need for further evaluation of the impacts of the incident, the Company will not provide profitability and margin guidance for the fiscal year at this time. However, the Company currently expects margins to improve in the second half of the year primarily due to its focus on operational and supply chain productivity improvements.

The Company’s expectations for certain additional financial metrics for fiscal 2024 are as follows:

• Total SG&A expenses between $240 million and $245 million
• Net interest expense between $14 million and $15 million
• Effective income tax rate between 23 percent and 25 percent
• Depreciation and amortization between $64 million and $65 million
• Pension expense other than service of approximately $4.0 million
• Capital expenditures between $45 million and $50 million

For earnings history and earnings-related data on Mueller Water Products, Inc. (MWA) click here.

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