RPM International (RPM) Tops Q4 EPS by 1c

RPM International (NYSE: RPM) reported Q4 EPS of $1.28, $0.01 better than the analyst estimate of $1.27. Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.74 billion versus the consensus estimate of $1.68 billion.

Business Outlook:

“As mentioned last quarter, a number of macroeconomic factors are creating inflationary and supply pressures on some of our product categories. Due to the lag impact resulting from our FIFO accounting methodology, we expect that our fiscal 2022 first-half performance will be significantly impacted by inflation throughout our P&L, which is currently averaging in the upper-teens. We continue to work to offset these increased costs with incremental MAP to Growth savings and commensurate selling price increases, which we will continue to implement as necessary. More importantly, the limited availability of certain key raw material components is negatively impacting our ability to meet demand. Our largest such challenge for the first half of fiscal 2022 will be in our Consumer Group,” stated Sullivan. “Several factors are compressing margins in the segment. First, selling price negotiations took place last spring and material costs have rapidly escalated further since then. Second, insufficient supply of raw materials, several of which are severely constrained due to trucking shortages or force majeure being declared by suppliers, has led to intermittent plant shutdowns and low productivity. Lastly, the Consumer Group has outsourced production in several cases to improve service levels at the expense of margins. In response to these first-half margin challenges, the Consumer Group is cutting costs and working with customers to secure additional price increases. We expect that our other three segments will successfully manage supply challenges to continue their robust top- and bottom-line momentum from the latest quarter into the first half of fiscal 2022.”

“Turning now to our first-quarter guidance, we expect consolidated sales to increase in the low- to mid-single digits compared to the fiscal 2021 first quarter, when sales grew 9% creating a difficult year-over-year comparison. Additionally, supply constraints have slowed production in some product categories. In spite of these factors, our revenue growth is expected to continue in three of our four segments,” stated Sullivan. “We anticipate our Construction Products Group and Performance Coatings Group to experience sales increases in the high-single or low-double digits. The Specialty Products Group is expected to generate double-digit sales increases. These sales projections are based on the assumption that global economies continue to improve. Sales in our Consumer Group are expected to decline double digits as it continues to face difficult comparisons to the prior year when organic growth was up 34%. However, the Consumer Group’s fiscal 2022 first-quarter sales are expected to be above the pre-pandemic record, indicating that we have expanded the user base for our products since then.”

“We expect our first-quarter adjusted EBIT to grow in three of our four segments, with the exception again being our Consumer Group. Based on the anticipated decline in this one segment, our first-quarter consolidated adjusted EBIT is expected to decrease 25% to 30% versus a difficult prior-year comparison, when adjusted EBIT in last year’s first quarter was up nearly 40%,” stated Sullivan.

“Moving to the second quarter of fiscal 2022, we expect good performance again, with the exception of the Consumer Group, where we anticipate similar challenges as discussed earlier to result in a significant decline in adjusted EBIT against difficult prior-year comparisons when sales were up 21% and adjusted EBIT was up 66%,” stated Sullivan. “We anticipate that the second-quarter decline in Consumer will be mostly offset by the combined EBIT growth in our three other segments, leading to consolidated adjusted EBIT being roughly flat versus another difficult prior-year comparison, when consolidated adjusted EBIT was up nearly 30%.”

“After we work through the temporary supply chain challenges, we expect to emerge with a Consumer Group that has broader distribution and a larger user base than it had before the pandemic,” stated Sullivan. “For our other three segments, good results are expected to continue due to recent strategic changes in our Specialty Products Group continuing to bear fruit and the catch up of deferred maintenance driving additional business at our Construction Products Group and Performance Coatings Group.”

For earnings history and earnings-related data on RPM International (RPM) click here.

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