Core & Main's stock drops 15% as earnings and revenue fall short

By Steve Gelsi

Pipe supplier cites bad weather and near-term macroeconomic challenges

Core & Main Inc.'s stock fell about 15% on Wednesday after the St. Louis-based water, wastewater and drainage-supply distributor's earnings fell short of analyst estimates and warned that "significant weather disruptions" have impacted its business.

The stock's downward move wiped out all of its gains for the year, with Core & Main's shares now lower by 1.7% so far in 2024. That compares to a rise of 15.5% by the S&P 500 SPX.

Core & Main's (CNM) second-quarter net income rose to $119 million, or 61 cents a share, from $110 million, or 66 cents a share, in the year-ago quarter.

The company's net income missed the FactSet consensus estimate of 74 cents a share.

Sales rose 5.5% to $1.964 billion, below the analyst estimate of $2.05 billion.

Looking ahead, Core & Main said it's cutting its 2024 sales outlook to a range of $7.3 billion to $7.4 billion, below the analyst estimate of $7.48 billion.

"While weather and market softness are impacting this year's results, we remain optimistic about the long-term demand characteristics of our end markets and are focused on executing against our long-term strategy as we manage through near-term macro dynamics," the company said.

Core & Main's stock price dropped $7.10 a share to $39.70 a share.

About 9.5 million shares had traded by late afternoon, more than triple the stock's average daily volume of 2.4 million shares.

-Steve Gelsi

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09-04-24 1455ET

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