Newell Q2 Earnings Meet Estimates, Core Sales Down 4.4%

Newell Brands Inc. NWL posted second-quarter 2025 results, with the top line decreasing year over year while slightly falling short of the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The bottom line matched the consensus mark but declined year over year.

The company posted normalized earnings per share (EPS) of 24 cents, which fell 31.4% year over year. It reported break-even earnings with the Zacks Consensus Estimate.

Newell Brands Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Newell Brands Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Newell Brands Inc. Quote

Net sales dipped 4.8% year over year to $1.9 billion on lower core sales, as well as the impacts of business exits and adverse foreign exchange. Core sales fell 4.4% year over year.

The normalized gross margin expanded 80 bps to 35.6%, reflecting the eighth straight quarter of year-over-year increase. Meanwhile, the normalized operating margin rose 10 bps year over year to 10.7%. Normalized EBITDA was $280 million, down from $282 million seen in the year-ago period. Our model anticipated a decline of 4.7% in adjusted EBITDA for the same quarter.

Newell Brands shares fell 5% in premarket trading as softer-than-expected revenues, continued sales declines, tariff risks and high leverage outweighed margin gains, disappointing investors. In the past month, the company’s shares have lost 17.2% compared with the industry’s 5.6% decline.

NWL Stock's Share Performance

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NWL’s Segmental Details

Net sales in the Home & Commercial Solutions segment were $892 million, down 7.3% from the year-ago period. The decrease was due to a 6.0% decline in core sales, unfavorable foreign exchange rates and business exits. Within the segment, core sales increased in the Home Fragrance business but declined in the Commercial and Kitchen categories. We had expected sales of $906 billion for the segment.

The Learning and Development segment recorded net sales of $809 million, down 0.5% from the year-ago quarter. Core sales fell 0.5% and grew across the Writing business and declined in the Baby business. We had expected sales of $814.1 million.

The Outdoor and Recreation segment’s net sales of $234 million declined 9.3% from the year-ago quarter. Core sales fell 10.9%, offsetting the impact of favorable foreign exchange. We had expected sales of $229.2 million.

Other Financial Details of Newell

This Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $219 million, long-term debt of $4.5 billion, outstanding debt of $5.1 billion and shareholders’ equity of $2.7 billion.

NWL used $271 million in cash from operating activities during the first six months of 2025.

NWL’s Q3 & 2025 Outlook

Newell Brands initiated its outlook for the third quarter and updated its full-year 2025 guidance to reflect the anticipated impact of increased tariffs. For the third quarter of 2025, the company expects net and core sales to decline between 4% and 2%, with a normalized operating margin in the range of 9.1% to 9.5% and normalized EPS of $0.16 to $0.19.

For 2025, the company expects an incremental cash tariff cost of approximately $155 million compared to 2024. The updated 2025 outlook calls for net and core sales to decline between 3% and 2%, a normalized operating margin of 9.0% to 9.5% and normalized EPS between $0.66 and $0.70. Due to the higher tariff-related inventory costs, Newell also revised its 2025 operating cash flow guidance to a range of $400 million-$450 million.

Better-Ranked Stocks

Post Holdings, Inc. POST operates as a consumer-packaged goods holding company in the United States and internationally. It currently sports a Zacks Rank of 1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here. 

The consensus estimate for Post Holdings’ current fiscal-year sales and earnings indicates growth of 2.7% and 7.3%, respectively, from the prior-year levels. POST delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 22.9%, on average.

The Chefs' Warehouse, Inc. CHEF distributes specialty food and center-of-the-plate products in the United States, the Middle East and Canada. It currently carries a Zacks Rank of 2 (Buy). CHEF delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 11.3%, on average.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for The Chefs' Warehouse’s current fiscal-year sales and earnings indicates growth of 6% and 19.1%, respectively, from the prior-year levels.

Nomad Foods NOMD, which manufactures frozen foods, holds a Zacks Rank # 2 at present. NOMD delivered a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 3.2%, on average.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Nomad Foods’ current financial-year sales and earnings implies growth of 8.6% and 10.4%, respectively, from the year-ago number.

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