Newell Brands announced its third quarter 2024 financial results, reporting net sales of $1.9 billion, a 4.9% decline year-over-year, with core sales decreasing by 1.7%. Despite the sales decline, the company achieved its fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year gross margin expansion.
Normalized gross margin increased by 460 basis points to 35.4% compared to the prior year, reaching its highest level since 2020. Normalized operating income rose to $185 million, or 9.5% of sales, up from $152 million, or 7.4% of sales, in the third quarter of 2023.
The company reported normalized diluted earnings per share of $0.16, compared to $0.37 in the prior year period. Year-to-date operating cash flow stood at $346 million, with debt outstanding at $5.0 billion and cash and cash equivalents at $494 million.
Newell Brands raised its full-year 2024 outlook, now expecting normalized operating margin between 8.1% and 8.3%, up from the previous range of 8.0% to 8.2%. Normalized diluted EPS guidance was increased to $0.63 to $0.66, from $0.60 to $0.65 previously.
The full-year 2024 operating cash flow outlook was also increased to a range of $500 million to $600 million, up from $450 million to $550 million. This positive revision reflects confidence in ongoing productivity savings and cost reduction efforts, despite the challenging macroeconomic environment.
The Learning & Development segment showed core sales growth of 4.4%, driven by the Baby business, while the Home & Commercial Solutions segment experienced a 2.3% core sales decline. The Outdoor & Recreation segment saw a 16.8% core sales decline, but improved its normalized operating loss.
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