Newell Brands posted better first-quarter financial results than Wall Street expected as it has focused on improving fundamentals while anticipating the advantages of expanding domestic manufacturing investment across its businesses.
Reported net loss was $37 million, or nine cents per diluted share, compared with $9 million, or two cents per diluted share, in the prior-year period. Adjusted for one-time events, net loss was $6 million, or one cent per diluted share, versus effectively flat net income for the year earlier, the company noted.
A Zacks Investment Research analyst consensus estimate had loss per adjusted diluted share at seven cents and revenue at $1.55 billion.
Net sales were $1.57 billion versus $1.65 billion in the year-before quarter, a 5.3% decrease. Core sales declined 2.1% in the quarter year over year. Operating income was $21 million versus $16 million in the year-previous period, while adjusted operating income was $71 million versus $79 million.
The Learning & Development segment rang up net sales of $572 million versus $559 million in the year-past quarter, reflecting core sales growth of 4.2%, which more than offset the impact of unfavorable foreign exchange. Core sales increased in both the writing and baby businesses. Reported operating income $98 million versus $94 million in the 2024 period while adjusted operating income was $103 million versus $104 million.
The Home & Commercial Solutions segment generated net sales of $812 million versus $893 million in the year-past quarter, reflecting a core sales decline of 5%, as well as the impact of unfavorable foreign exchange and business exits. Core sales declined in the commercial, kitchen and home fragrance businesses. Reported operating loss was $2 million versus operating income of $16 million in the 2024 period, while adjusted operating income was $20 million versus $45 million.
The Outdoor & Recreation segment recorded net sales of $182 million versus $201 million in the year-past quarter. Reported operating loss was $5 million versus $18 million in the 2024 period, while adjusted operating loss was nominal versus $9 million, Newell reported.
In announcing the financial results, Chris Peterson, Newell Brands president and CEO, said, “We had strong results in the first quarter with core sales growth, operating margin and earnings per share all in-line or better than expectations. In this dynamic environment, we remain focused on driving continued progress on our strategic choices to improve the fundamentals of the business. In addition, our decision to maintain and invest in a robust and extensive in-house domestic manufacturing base while many of our competitors outsourced or off-shored much of their production capability, positions us well to not just manage tariff related sourcing dislocations but to ultimately benefit from them.”
Newell Brands CFO Mark Erceg said, “A series of swift interventions including targeted pricing actions, incremental cost reduction efforts and rapid sourcing decisions in conjunction with our first quarter bottom-line over-delivery gives us confidence we can fully offset the U.S. tariffs and foreign retaliatory tariffs currently in place, other than the additional 125% U.S. tariffs on China, and maintain our original 2025 full year net sales, operating margin and EPS guidance ranges. We have also conducted a sensitivity analysis, and if the additional 125% China tariff remains in effect for the full year, Newell Brands’ 2025 normalized EPS could be negatively impacted by as much as 10 cents after the implementation of additional mitigating actions.”
