Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of Central Garden & Pet
So what: For the quarter that ended in March, Central Garden & Pet dropped the ball. Management said as much in its earnings press release today. According to CEO Bill Brown, "Even with strong demand from consumers for our products, our sales and earnings were affected this quarter by short-term execution issues."
Those execution issues were due to the company's "transformational" effort -- an initiative that's aimed at turning the Central Garden group of companies into a more seamless, integrated company.
Nevertheless, investors were having none of it today. Revenue dropped 4% year over year to $467 million, while earnings per share slipped 17% to $0.45. The latter was well short of Wall Street analysts' average estimate of $0.54.
Now what: Here's the silver lining: As Brown noted, demand has been strong. That's a good thing. But the company has to get its act together in order to capitalize on that demand. From management's point of view, the company transformation will be worth the short-term hit, because -- as president Gus Halas put it -- it will "position the Company for success in the coming years."
Investors are upset today, but if management can deliver on that promise, better times may be ahead.
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