Energizer (NYSE: ENR) reported earnings for its first quarter Monday, and the stock electrified (sorry about the pun) investors by rising more than 10%. What made the traders so excited? Let's have a look.
Net sales for the quarter ended Dec. 31, 2005, came in at $882.4 million compared with $875.9 million in the year-ago period, gaining 0.74%. Earnings before income taxes were $174.7 million vs. $177.1 million, a decrease of 1.4%. Net income for the first quarter was $120.5 million ($1.77 per diluted share) vs. $120.4 million ($1.60 per diluted share) last year.
Am I missing something? Were these results worth a 10% pop?
Looking a bit deeper, some internal statistics caused investors to revise their opinion on Energizer's prospects. While domestic retail sales for the battery industry overall rose 4.4% for the quarter, Energizer managed to achieve a 9.5% increase in its battery sales in that period. The company was able to increase its market share by 1.8 points. Plus, even though sales of razor blades declined 2% on a constant currency basis, the earnings before interest and taxes for this segment rose 20% to $46.6 million. When you take that performance and the beaten expectations into account, you understand the traders' excitement.
Fair enough. But in my opinion, I just don't see a reason to give Energizer such a boost. There was no real momentum in the top line, and the bottom line pretty much benefited from a reduction in outstanding shares. A reduced float is a good thing, certainly, but on a dollar basis, earnings went nowhere.
Checking on the company's operational cash flow, we see that the last three years haven't been terribly exciting. Energizer took in $442 million in operational cash for the year ended Sept. 30, 2003. Flash forward two years and that number goes down to $317 million. The company right now has a PEG ratio of 1.32. It is expected to grow 9% per year over the next five years, which is below the expected growth rate of the broader marketplace. And it doesn't pay a dividend. Contrast that with competitor Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), which does pay a dividend and merged with Gillette last year.
Quite frankly, if you want to play the battery/razor business, I'd rather do it with P&G. I concede that Energizer has a nice five-year chart, and that investors may want to perform more due diligence and see if there is a compelling reason to commit money for the long term. At this time, however, I'm just not interested, and I'm not swayed by the price action on Monday.
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Fool contributor Steven Mallas owns none of the companies mentioned. The Fool has a disclosure policy.
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