Brown-Forman Corp.’s stock was the biggest winner in the S&P 500 on Thursday, rising 10.4%. This was the biggest gainer in the index. The company said it expects to make money from net sales and operating income this fiscal year, even though there are “macroeconomic uncertainties.”
Its core whiskey sales went down 1%, but growth from Woodford Reserve and Old Forester more than made up for drops in its more expensive names.
A year ago, Brown-Forman’s BF.B +11.02% second-quarter profit was $242 million, or 50 cents a share. This year, it was $258 million, or 55 cents a share.
FactSet predicted that Brown-Forman would make 49 cents a share, which they did.
That’s 1% less than what analysts thought it would be, $1.11 billion in sales.
The company said that the drop in sales was mostly caused by the sale of its Sonoma-Cutrer and Finlandia brands.
As we look ahead, Brown-Forman said that foreign markets and the “benefit of normalizing industry trends” will help it make money in fiscal 2025 in terms of net sales and operating income.
The business said, “This outlook is cautious because we think that ongoing global macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties will keep making the operating environment difficult.”
Before trading on Thursday, Brown-Forman’s stock had dropped 28% so far in 2024, while the S&P 50 SPX -0.12% has gained 27.6%.
