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Additional Information
Market: NYSE
Sector: Manufacturing
EPIC: CHD
Latest Price: 53.42  (1.33% Ascending)
52-week High: 54.22
52-week Low: 37.01
Market Cap: 7,420.10M
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Church & Dwight
www.churchdwight.com
Church & Dwight & Co., Inc. develops, manufactures and markets a range of household, personal care and specialty products. The Company operates in three business segments: Consumer Domestic, Consumer International and Specialty Products (SPD).
Full Church & Dwight profile here
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Church & Dwight cleans up with Q4 earnings

7th Feb 2012, 2:33 pm by Olivia D'Orazio
Church & Dwight cleans up with Q4 earnings

Arm & Hammer products maker Church & Dwight (NYSE:CHD) saw its stock rise on Tuesday, following news of its fourth quarter results, which came in above analysts' estimates.

For the three months ended December 31, the consumer products company posted net earnings of $63.8 million, or $0.44 per share, up 35.7 percent from $47.0 million, or $0.32 per share, a year ago.

Adjusted for certain one-time items, including a tax valuation allowance and a pension charge, earnings rose 23 percent to

$0.53 per share, beating analysts' 51-cent per share estimate, according to Thomson Reuters.

In sales, Church & Dwight posted $731.1 million in revenues for the quarter, up 11.3 percent from $656.9 million a year ago, and well above analysts' $694.3 million estimate.

Church & Dwight CEO James R. Craigie said: "We are proud of the business results we accomplished in 2011.

"Despite weak consumer demand and intense price competition, we delivered 4% organic sales growth and 12% adjusted EPS growth.

"In addition, we exited the year with momentum and saw an improvement in organic growth each quarter this year.

"We successfully implemented an information systems upgrade in Canada in October 2011 and in the United States on January 1, 2012 to provide us with better visibility to operating data and improved analytical capabilities. We significantly increased our dividend to return value to shareholders."

Indeed, the company announced a 41 percent increase to its quarterly dividend, boosting it seven cents to $0.24 per share. This equals a $0.96 annual dividend, and a dividend yield of about 2.1 percent per share.

Total revenues from the company's consumer products segment increased 12.1 percent to $664.6 million during the quarter, as domestic consumer sales rose ten percent to $519.6 million, largely on strong sales of its Arm & Hammer brand, while international consumer sales rose 20.7 percent to $145.0 million, on increased revenues in Canada, Australia, and Mexico.

Specialty product sales, which rose 3.8 percent to $66.5 million during the quarter, benefitted from a timing shift in customer orders related to the company's U.S. information system upgrades.

Revenues of householder products rose 16.1 percent to $342.8 million, more than offsetting a 0.3 percent decline in personal care product sales, to $176.8 million.

Meanwhile, unfavourable product mix led to a 120 basis point decline in gross profit margins for the quarter, to 43.3 percent, from 44.5 percent a year earlier.

For the full year fiscal 2011, Church & Dwight posted net income of $309.6 million, or $2.12 per share, up 14.4 percent.

Revenues hiked six percent to $2.75 billion.

Looking forward, Craigie commented: "We continue to expect a difficult and challenging economic environment in 2012.

"Consumer spending and category growth is expected to remain weak due to high unemployment and consumer uncertainty.

Commodity prices are expected to continue to increase in 2012 and competition will remain fierce.

"We believe we are in an excellent position to continue to deliver value to our shareholders with our balanced portfolio of

value and premium products, aggressive cost cutting and tight management of overhead costs."

As a result, the company said it expects earnings for 2012 in the range of $2.41 to $2.43, with organic sales rising between
three and four percent.

In New York, shares of the Princeton, New Jersey-based company rose 5.55 percent to $47.75, as of 2:22 pm EDT.

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