Brown-Forman's Q4 Earnings on the Deck: Is a Beat Likely in the Cards?

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Brown-Forman Corporation (BF.B) is slated to release fourth-quarter fiscal 2025 results on June 5. The alcoholic beverage bigwig’s revenues are expected to increase. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal fourth-quarter revenues is pegged at $969.2 billion, indicating a rise of 0.5% from the year-ago quarter.

The consensus mark for earnings is pegged at 36 cents per share, indicating a decrease of 35.7% from the year-ago period’s number. Earnings estimates for the fiscal fourth quarter have been unchanged in the past 30 days. (See the Zacks Earnings Calendar to stay ahead of market-making news.)

In the last reported quarter, the company’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 21.3%. In the trailing four quarters, BF.B delivered an earnings surprise of 12.9%, on average.

Key Factors Likely to Affect BF.B’s Q4 Results

Brown-Forman has been benefiting from its premiumization strategy and strong brand investments. BF.B is advancing its pricing strategy, global expansion and revenue-growth management initiatives. The company has been gaining traction from portfolio evolution, Jack Daniel's Country cocktail business model change and strong price mix.

BF.B has been making actions to optimize its wood supply-chain strategy and improve operating costs. Gains in the international markets and the normalizing distributor inventory trends on a year-over-year basis will further aid. Such factors, coupled with gains across its premium and super-premium brands, diverse portfolio and extensive geographic reach, are likely to have reflected in the company’s top-line performance in the quarter under review.

However, Brown-Forman has been grappling with a volatile operating landscape, owing to geopolitical uncertainties and global macroeconomic conditions. The company has been witnessing lower volumes across brands and regions. Soft industry trends led by the absence of the Finlandia brand and adverse impacts of foreign exchange remain concerning.

Additionally, the company’s tequila portfolio has been sluggish for a while. Reduced volumes of Jack Daniel’s other super-premium expressions, Woodford Reserve and the Finlandia divestiture have been weighing on BF.B’s Travel Retail channel’s performance. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for the Travel Retail channel’s revenues in the impending quarter indicates a decline of 23% from the preceding quarter. Persistence of these weaknesses, along with global macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainties, are likely to get reflected in the company’s quarterly performance.