Yahoo Finance Kronos Worldwide (KRO) Earnings & Sales Beat Estimates in Q1
Kronos Worldwide, Inc. KRO logged a profit of $27 million or 23 cents per share in first-quarter 2020, down from $30.3 million or 26 cents in the year-ago quarter. Earnings, however, topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 15 cents.
Results in the reported quarter were impacted by lower sales volumes and increased raw materials as well as other production costs.
Net sales fell 4% year over year to $421 million, hurt by lower sales volumes. However, the figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $416 million.
Kronos Worldwide Inc Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Kronos Worldwide Inc price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Kronos Worldwide Inc Quote
Volumes and Pricing
The company’s titanium dioxide (TiO2) sales volumes fell 5% year over year due to lower volumes in North American, Latin American and export markets, partly offset by increased volumes in the European market. TiO2 production volumes were down 1% year over year in the reported quarter.
Average TiO2 selling prices were flat year over year in the reported quarter.
Financials
Kronos Worldwide ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $341.5 million, up around 1% year over year. Long-term debt was $436.3 million, down around 2% year over year.
Net cash used in operating activities was $9.8 million for the reported quarter.
Outlook
Kronos Worldwide said that the coronavirus pandemic had limited impact on its operations and financial performance in the first quarter of 2020. The company expects global gross domestic product to be considerably impacted for an indeterminate period. Factoring in the impact of the pandemic on the world economy, the company envisions its sales and earnings to be lower than what it had originally expected for 2020.
Price Performance
Shares of Kronos Worldwide have lost 26.8% in the past year compared with 24.3% decline of the industry.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
Kronos Worldwide currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Better-ranked stocks worth considering in the basic materials space are The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company SMG, Franco-Nevada Corporation FNV and Newmont Corporation NEM.
Scotts Miracle-Gro has an expected earnings growth rate of 17.7% for the current fiscal year. The company’s shares have gained roughly 60% in the past year. It currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Franco-Nevada has a projected earnings growth rate of 22% for the current year. It currently carries a Zacks Rank #2. The company’s shares have surged roughly 89% in a year.
Newmont has a projected earnings growth rate of 85.6% for the current year. The company’s shares have rallied around 109% in a year. It currently has a Zacks Rank #2.
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