Brown-Forman Profit And Sales Fall Short Of Estimates

Brown-Forman Corp. said Wednesday it had net income of $144 million, or 37 cents a share, in its first fiscal quarter to end July, down from $156 million, or 37 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Sales slid to $661 million from $699 million. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 37 cents and sales of $674 million. The owner of alcohol brands including Jack Daniel's, Finlandia and Korbel, said the results were "largely as anticipated considering the absence of previously disposed brands and the difficult comparisons against last year's launch of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Fire in the United States." The company is now expecting full fiscal-year EPS to range from $1.71 to $1.81, wrapped around the current FactSet consensus of $1.77. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but are up 1.4% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 6%.