Church & Dwight Q1 Tops View; Sees Q2 EPS Above Estimate; Lifts FY16 Sales View

(RTTNews) - Church & Dwight Co., Inc. (CHD), a household, personal care and specialty products company, reported Thursday first-quarter net income of $113 million or $0.86 per share, compared to last year's $107.2 million or $0.80 per share.

On average, 17 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.85 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

First quarter 2016 reported net sales increased 4.5 percent to $849.0 million from $812.3 million last year. Analysts were looking for revenues of $827.32 million.

Organic sales growth for the first quarter 2016 was 5.2 percent driven by volume growth of 5.6 percent, and partially offset by 0.4 percent from unfavorable product mix and pricing.

Looking ahead, for the second quarter, the company expects organic sales growth of approximately 2-3 percent, margin expansion and earnings per share of $0.79 which equates to an 8 percent increase from last year. On a reported basis, earnings per share is expected to increase 44 percent.

Analysts expect earnings of $0.78 per share for the quarter.

For fiscal 2016, the company expects organic sales growth of approximately 3 percent to 4 percent, compared to previous estimate of 3 percent growth. Gross margin is now projected to expand by approximately 75 basis points, compared to growth of 40 basis points previously.

Further, the company continues to expect 7 to 9 percent adjusted earnings per share growth.