News

Hawkins, Inc. HWKN logged earnings of 66 cents per share in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2024 (ended Mar 31, 2024), up from 55 cents in the year-ago quarter. Earnings in the reported quarter missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 68 cents.

The company registered revenues of $223 million for the quarter, down around 2% year over year. It beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $217.5 million. Higher sales in the Water Treatment unit were more than offset by the decline in the Industrial segment.

Hawkins, Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Segment Highlights

Industrial segment sales fell 18% year over year to $97.1 million in the reported quarter. Sales in the segment were affected by the divestment of the company’s consumer bleach packaging business, decreased volumes and lower selling prices on certain products due to reduced raw material costs and competitive pricing pressures.

Sales from the Water Treatment segment climbed 21% year over year to $86.7 million. Sales were driven by added sales from acquired businesses.

Health and Nutrition segment sales increased 0.5% year over year to $39.3 million. Higher sales of distributed products were offset by reduced sales of manufactured products.

Financials

The company ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of roughly $7.2 million, up around 26% sequentially. Long-term debt was roughly $88.8 million at the end of the quarter, down around 19% sequentially.

The company generated record fourth-quarter operating cash flow of $41.9 million.

Outlook

Moving ahead, the company expects continued top and bottom-line growth in fiscal 2025, with top line approaching $1 billion in revenues. HWKN expects Water Treatment to become its biggest reporting segment. While it is cautiously optimistic about the Industrial segment, it believes that economic and competitive pressures will continue to impact many of its customers and demand.

For the Health and Nutrition unit, HWKN anticipates the improved performance it witnessed in the back half of fiscal 2024 to continue into fiscal 2025, and sees results to be higher than fiscal 2024.

Shares of Hawkins have gained 77.9% in a year compared with the industry’s decline of 10%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Zacks Rank & Other Specialty Chemicals Releases

HWKN currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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