Jack Daniel's Distributor Brown-Forman's Profit Falls Short, But Sales Beat In Latest Quarter

Brown-Forman Corp. said Tuesday it had net income of $182 million, or 47 cents a share, in its fiscal third quarter to Jan. 31, after earnings of $190 million, or 47 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. The distributor of Jack Daniel's whiskey and Finlandia vodka said sales fell to $808 million from $809 million. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 48 cents and sales of $802 million. "The company believes that fiscal 2017 is on track to be another year of continued growth in underlying net sales and operating income, despite the significant uncertainty that currently exists around the global economic and geopolitical environment, not to mention foreign exchange volatility," the company said in a statement. It is now expecting 2017 sales growth of 3% to 4% and EPS of $1.71 to $1.76. The FactSet consensus is for 2017 EPS of $1.84. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but are up 44% in the last 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained about 19%.