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WD-40 Co (WDFC 0.23%)
Q3Â 2019 Earnings Call
Jul 9, 2019, 5:00 p.m. ET
Contents:
- Prepared Remarks
- Questions and Answers
- Call Participants
Prepared Remarks:
Operator
Good day and welcome to the WD-40 Company Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2019 Earnings Conference Call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. At the end of the prepared remarks, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions)
I would now like to turn the presentation over to the host for today's call, Ms. Wendy Kelley, Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications. Please proceed.
Wendy Kelley -- Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
Thank you. Good afternoon and thanks to everyone for joining us today. On our call today are WD-40 Company's Chief Executive Officer, Garry Ridge; and Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, Jay Rembolt.
In addition to the financial information presented on today's call, we encourage investors to review our earnings presentation, earnings press release and Form 10-Q for the period ending May 31st, 2019. These documents are available on our Investor Relations website at investor.wd40company.com. A replay and transcript of today's call will also be made available at that location shortly after this call.
On today's call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP measures. The descriptions and reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures are available in our SEC filings as well as our earnings presentation. As a reminder, today's call includes forward-looking statements about our expectations for the Company's future performance. Of course, actual results could differ materially. The Company's expectations, beliefs and projections are expressed in good faith, but there can be no assurance that they will be achieved or accomplished. Please refer to the risk factors detailed in our SEC filings for further discussions.
Finally, for anyone listening to a webcast replay or reviewing a written transcript of this call, please note that all information presented is current only as of today's date, July 9th, 2019. The Company disclaims any duty or obligation to update any forward-looking information whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
With that, I'd now like to turn the call over to Garry.
Garry O. Ridge -- Chief Executive Officer
Thanks, Wendy. Good day and thanks for joining us for today's conference call. Today, we reported net sales of $114 million for the third quarter of fiscal year 2019, up nearly 7% compared to the third quarter of last year. Net income for the third quarter was $18.1 million compared to $16.1 million last year, reflecting an increase of 12% year-over-year. Diluted earnings per share for the third quarter were $1.30 compared to $1.15 for the same period last year. And I'm happy to share with you that both sales and earnings results for the third quarter reflect new records for the Company.
Now, let's start with the discussion about our strategic initiatives and the brands that support them. We aspire to drive consolidated net sales to approximately $700 million in revenues by the end of fiscal year 2025, and to do so while following our 55/30/25 business model. We'd like to remind investors that these long-term targets are guide posts not guidance, they are probably wrong and roughly right. However, our tribe is working tirelessly on programs and initiatives that will help us successfully reach our 2025 aspirations.
As a reminder, we refer to the brands that are going to get us there as our 2025 brands. They are WD-40 Multi-Use Product, WD-40 Specialist, 3-IN-ONE, WD-40 BIKE, GT85, 1001, Spot Shot, Solvol, Lava and no vac. Our 2025 brands are our core strategic focus and the primary growth engine for our Company. Our strategic initiative number one is to grow WD-40 Multi-Use Product. Our goal under this initiative is to make the blue and yellow can with a little red top available to more people in more places who will find more uses more often.
We aspire to grow the WD-40 Multi-Use Product to approximately $530 million in revenue by the end of 2025. In the third quarter, sales of WD-40 Multi-Use Product were $88.4 million, up 7% compared to last year. The growth was driven by solid sales in both EMEA and Asia Pacific, as well as a reasonable growth in our largest market, the United States. In our developed markets, we continue to drive revenue growth through the innovation of our flagship product, which includes premiumization. As part of our premiumization strategy, we continue to successfully convert WD-40 Multi-Product end users to a more innovative Smart Straw and EZ-REACH delivery systems.
In our developing and emerging markets, we continue to build brand awareness and drive geographic expansion and higher availability around the globe. Year-to-date, net sales of products included under this initiative were up 4% compared to last year. Strategic initiative, number two is grow the WD-40 Specialist product line. In the third quarter, sales of WD-40 Specialist were $9.1 million, up 8% compared to the third quarter of last year. This continues to move the Company toward its goal for the initiative, growing the product line to approximately $100 million in revenue by the end of fiscal year 2025. We're optimistic about the long-term opportunities for WD-40 Specialist. However, there may be some volatility in sales levels along the way due to the timing of promotional programs, the building of distribution and the various other factors that come along with building out a new product line. Year-to-date net sales of products included under this initiative were up 10% compared to last year.
Strategic initiative number 3 is to broaden product and revenue base. Strategic initiative number 3 includes maintenance products like 3-IN-ONE, WD-40 BIKE and GT85, but also includes such brands as Spot Shot and Lava in the Americas, 1001 in EMEA and no vac and Solvol in Asia-Pacific. We believe we are on track to reach a combined revenue for these products of approximately $70 million by 2025. Global sales of products included under this initiative were $14.2 million in the third quarter compared to $13.7 million in the third quarter of last year, reflecting an increase of 4% period-over-period. Year-to-date net sales of products under this initiative were up 3% compared to last year, nearly all of the growth is attributed to the strong sales of 1001 Carpet Fresh in the UK due to the favorable impacts of some digital marketing windfalls associated with the brand.
Strategic initiative, number 4 is to attract develop and retain outstanding tribe members. Our goal under this initiative is to attract develop and retain talented tribe members and to grow tribe member engagement to greater than 95%. The number one responsibility of our tribal leaders is to share knowledge and inspire ongoing learning.
With that end in mind, we recently refreshed our internal learning program and renamed it Learning Laboratory, which is our global ecosystem for tribal learning and development. Through the lab, we create and deliver learning and encompass skills, sales skills, technical product knowledge, leadership and general competencies. We strongly believe in strengthening our tribe from within because building a strong bench of great talent and future leaders is critical to our continued success.
We are fortunate to have a tremendous depth of talent throughout all ranks of the Company and a strong succession plan in place.To further ensure the continuation of culture and the success of our Company, we announced last month that Steve Brass has been appointed to the role of President and Chief Operating Officer of the Company, and Patricia Olsem has been promoted to the role of Division President, Americas. In conjunction with Steve's appointment, I will no longer serve as President but I'll continue to serve as the Chief Executive Officer of the Company.
In addition to these management changes we shared with investors that Linda Lang will retire as a Director and as Chair of the Company's Board at the next Annual General Meeting in December 2019. And at that time, the Board intends to appoint me as Board Chair. I'm very excited about taking on this latest responsibility and for the opportunity to mentor, the future leaders of this great organization.
Strategic initiative number 5, operational excellence. (inaudible) this initiative is best summarized by one of our core values here at WD-40 Company, make it better than it is today. We are continuously focused on optimizing resources, systems and processes as well as applying rigorous commitment to quality assurance, regulatory compliance, intellectual property protection. Recently we held two global summits, one in San Diego and one in our brand-new technology center in Pine Brook New Jersey. In San Diego, members of our global quality tribe gathered together to gain an alignment on topics related to quality, insurance, innovation and regulatory compliance.
In Pine Brook, our scientists, human resource and supply chain tribe members gathered together with some of our key suppliers to collaborate and gain alignment on some of our global opportunities and challenges that our tribe is facing. These summits are a living breathing example of our tribe consistently striving to make it better than it is today.
That completes the update on the strategic initiatives. So let's move on to the details of our third quarter results starting with sales. As I mentioned earlier, consolidated net sales were $114 million in the third quarter, up 7% year-over-year, which reflects a new record for the Company. Translation of foreign currency subsidiary results from their functional currencies to the U.S. dollar had an unfavorable impact on sales in the third quarter. On a constant currency basis, net sales would have been $117.5 million in the third quarter, up 10% compared to the last year and resulting in a diluted earnings per share of $1.35.
Before I discuss what's happening in the individual segments, I'd like to take a moment to remind investors that though we do not consider our business to be a seasonal one, it's common for our sales results to fluctuate from one period to another due to various factors, including the level of promotional activities, specific programs being run at customer locations, the timing of customer orders or the impact of new product launches. This is all a normal part of our business and we are accustomed to these types of fluctuations and manage them as part of our normal business activities. Just when something out of the ordinary happens that we will discuss the event in much greater detail here with investors.
So now let's start with the Americas. Net sales in the Americas, which includes the United States, Latin America, and Canada, remain constant at $53 million in the third quarter compared to last year. Year-to-date net sales in the Americas were also relatively flat compared to last year.
Sales of maintenance products increased 1% with $369,000 in the Americas, entirely due to the higher sales of maintenance products in the United States. The increase in sales in the United States was nearly all offset by lower sales of maintenance products in Canada and Latin America. Maintenance products sales in the United States increased 6% in the third quarter, primarily due to increased sales of the WD-40 Specialist. Sales of WD-40 Specialist were up 30% in the U.S. due to new distribution and successful promotional activities. Sales of WD-40 Multi-Use Product in the U.S. were up 3% compared to last year due to the successful promotional programs being run. This increase in sales in the U.S. was quite an achievement, considering that the third quarter of last year many of our customers were buying products in advance of our planned price increases.
The increase in maintenance product sales in the U.S. were significantly offset by decreases in sales in both Canada and Latin America. Year-over-year sales in Canada were down 18% and sales in Latin America down 16%. This is because we were up against tough comparable periods both in Canada and Latin America as customers in the prior year bought high volumes of product in advance of our planned price increases.
As a reminder, our maintenance products exclude our homecare and cleaning products. Sales of our homecare and cleaning products in the Americas decreased 8% in the third quarter compared to the prior year, largely due to the lower sales of 2000 Flushes and Spot Shot, which declined 6% and 10% respectively.
We continue to consider homecare and cleaning products, except for those listed as 2025 brands, as harvest brands that continue to generate meaningful contributions and cash flows. But I generally expect it to become a smaller part of the business over time. In total, the America segment made up 47% of our global business and over the long-term we anticipate sales within this segment will grow between 2% and 5% annually.
Now, on to EMEA. Net sales in EMEA, which includes Europe, the Middle East, Africa and India, increased to $44.5 million in the third quarter, up 13% from last year. Year-to-date net sales in EMEA were up 9% compared to last year. EMEA's reported results in the third quarter were negatively impacted by foreign currency exchange rates. On a constant currency basis, sales in EMEA would have increased to $47.3 million in the third quarter, up 20% from last year. Translation related impacts were immaterial in the quarter.
As you know, we sell into EMEA through a combination of direct operations as well as through marketing distributors. Our EMEA direct markets accounted for 68% of the region sales during the third quarter of this year. In U.S. dollars, sales in our direct markets were $30.1 million, up nearly 16% compared to last year, primarily due to strong sales of WD-40 Multi-Use Product. This increase in sales was primarily due to higher levels of promotional activities and increased distribution of our WD-40 EZ-REACH Flexible Straw product. In addition, sales in the UK direct markets increased significantly due to higher sales of 1001 Carpet Fresh as the result of favorable impacts from digital marketing windfalls associated with the brand.
Net sales in our EMEA distributor markets, which accounted for 32% of the region, sales increased by 7% during the quarter to $14.4 million. This increase was primarily due to the increased sales of WD-40 Multi-Use Product in Eastern Europe, primarily Russia, due to the timing of customer orders and more stable economic conditions in the region. The EMEA segment made up 39% of our global sales. Over the long-term, we expect sales within this segment will grow between 8% and 10% annually.
Now to Asia. Consolidated net sales in Asia-Pacific, which includes Australia, China and other countries in the Asian region, increased to $16.5 million in the third quarter, up 14% from last year. Changes in foreign currency exchange rates had an unfavorable impact on sales in the region. On a constant currency basis, sales in Asia-Pacific would have increased to $17.1 million in the third quarter, up 18% from last year.
In Australia, net sales were $4.2 million in the third quarter, down 11% compared to last year, primarily due to changes in foreign currency exchange rates which had a negative impact on sales in the region. On a constant currency basis, sales in Australia were down 3% compared to the same quarter of last year primarily due to a lower level of promotional activities.
In our Asia distributor markets, net sales were $8.3 million for the quarter, up 50% compared to last year. This increase in sales was driven by success from promotional programs as well as the timing of customers' orders. It's worth noting that in the comparable period last year, sales in Asia distributor markets were negatively impacted due to the transitioning of distributor partners in some of the region. That transition has been completed for quite some time, but due to the disruption last year, the comparable period looks particularly strong year-over-year. Our Asia distributor markets are not impacted by currency since we sell in U.S. dollars in that region.
In China, net sales in U.S. dollars decreased to $3.9 million in the third quarter, down 6% compared to last year, primarily due to unfavorable impacts of foreign currency exchange rates. On a constant currency basis, sales would have remained constant. Year-to-date, net sales in China increased $11.8 million, up 6% compared to last year. We remain optimistic about the long-term opportunities in China, although we expect a lot of volatility along the way due to the timing of promotional programs, the building of distribution, shifting economic patterns and varying industrial activities.
The Asia-Pacific region made up 14% of our global sales. Over the long-term, we expect sales within this segment will grow between 10% and 12% annually.
That wraps up my part of the report for today. Now, over to Jay who'll continue with the review of the financials.
Jay Rembolt -- Chief Financial Officer
Thanks, Garry. Let's first start with the discussion about our 55/30/25 business model, the long-term targets that we use to guide our business. As you may recall, the 55 represents gross margin, which we target to be at 55% of net sales. The 30 represents our cost of doing business, which is our total operating expenses, excluding depreciation and amortization. Our goal is to drive our cost of doing business toward 30% of net sales over time. And finally, the 25 represents our target for EBITDA.
Well, first, the 55% are our gross margin. In the third quarter, our gross margin was 54.5% compared to 54.8% last year. This represents a decrease of 30 basis points year-over-year. Sales of exchanges and other miscellaneous costs negatively impacted our gross margin by 160 basis points this period. This is driven by a combination of unfavorable mix changes and increases in miscellaneous costs primarily in our Americas and EMEA segments. Also negatively impacting gross margin by 50 basis points this quarter were changes in major input costs. Approximately 20 basis points came from increased cost of petroleum-based specialty chemicals while the remaining 30 basis points came from higher cost associated with aerosol cans.
When we last updated investors we shared that we anticipated gross margin would begin to show a slight positive trend driven by the lower petroleum-based input costs. While we've seen this in the Americas, the cost increases we experienced in EMEA and Asia-Pacific more than offset these savings. Even though the cost of crude oil was lower, the cost in EMEA and Asia-Pacific for some of the petroleum-based specialty chemicals we procure have increased. As a result, the average cost of raw materials has flowed through our cost of goods in the third quarter was higher this year and this has put pressure on our gross margin.
These unfavorable impacts to gross margin were mostly offset by the effect of sales price increases, which we've implemented in all three trading blocks over the last 12 months and positively impacted gross margin by 120 basis points in the third quarter. Also positively impacting margin in the third quarter by 30 basis points were lower manufacturing warehousing and inbound freight costs primarily in Asia-Pacific. We've made some changes to our supply chain for our Asia-Pacific distributor markets in late fiscal year 2018, and we're now beginning to see some of the benefits from these changes.
Gross margin also positively impacted by lower advertising, promotional and other discounts, which we give to our customers and positively impacted gross margin results by 20 basis points. And finally, changes in foreign currency exchange rates in our EMEA segment positively impacted gross margin by 10 basis points.
As a reminder, our long-term gross margin target of 55% is not contingent upon commodity prices staying at any particular price point cannot control global market dynamics, but we can continue to be deliberate and focused in managing our business so that we can maintain gross margin at or above our target of 55% over the long-term.
Now, I'll address the 30 or our cost of doing business. In the third quarter, our cost of doing business was approximately 33%, up 10 basis points from the third quarter last year. For the third quarter, 75% of our cost of doing business came from three areas; people costs or the investments we make in our tribe; the investments we make in marketing, advertising and promotion as a percentage of sales or A&P investment was 5.5% in the third quarter; and then finally, freight, the cost to get our products to our customers.
While our objective is to have our cost of doing business closer to our target of 30% of net sales, we'll continue to make necessary investments in support of our fifth strategic initiative, operational excellence. And this brings us to EBITDA, the last of our 55/30/25 measures. EBITDA was 22% of net sales for the third quarter and down from the 23% last year. And that completes the discussion on our 55/30/25 business model.
Now, let's discuss some items that fall below the line. The provision for income taxes was 19.8% in the third quarter of this year compared to 24.3% last year. The decrease in the tax rate was primarily due to the continued impact from the U.S. Tax Act and its effect on the Company's fiscal year tax rate. We expect our effective tax rate will be approximately 19% to 20% for the full fiscal year 2019, a little bit lower than we had previously anticipated. And net income for the third quarter was $18.1 million versus $16.1 million in the prior year, reflecting an increase of 12%.This resulted in diluted earnings per share of $1.30 for the third quarter compared to $1.15 for the same period last year. Diluted weighted average shares outstanding decreased to 13.8 million shares from 13.9 million shares a year ago.
Now a word about capital allocation. Our capital allocation strategy includes a comprehensive approach to balance investing in long-term growth while providing strong returns to our shareholders. We continue to return capital to our shareholders through regular dividends and share repurchases. On June 18th, 2019, our Board of Directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.61 per share payable July 31st to shareholders of record at the close of business on July 19th. Based on today's closing price of $161.35, the annualized dividend yield is 1.5%.
During the third quarter, we repurchased approximately 62,000 shares of our stock at a total cost of $10.3 million under our current $75 million share repurchase plan, which was approved by the board in June 2018. At the end of our third fiscal quarter we had $52.6 million remaining under the plan. As a reminder, we target our maintenance CapEx of between 1% and 2% of net sales each year. However, this fiscal year, we're making some additional investments that are expected to bring our total capital expenditures to around $22 million. This investment is to support the renovation of our new facility in Milton Keynes and to procure some new production machinery as we've previously disclosed.
So, with that, let's turn to fiscal year 2019 guidance. As I mentioned, we expect the provision for income tax to be a little bit lower than we previously anticipated due to the continued favorable impact from the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. As a result of a lower tax rate we are strengthening our net income and EPS guidance for the full year. We continue to expect net sales growth to be between 4% and 7% with net sales between $425 million and $437 million.
Gross margin for the full year is expected to be near 55%, advertising and promotion investment is projected to be between 5.5% and 6% of net sales.
The provision for income tax is expected to be between 19% and 20% with net income projected to be between $63.3 million and $64.4 million. Diluted earnings per share is expected to be between $4.58 and $4.65 based on an estimated 13.8 million weighted average shares outstanding.
I'd like to remind investors that we continue to believe that net sales may come in at the lower end of the range that we've shared with you today due to the impacts of fluctuating currency exchange rates. In addition, this guide does not include any expectations regarding future acquisitions or divestitures.
And that completes the financial overview and I'll turn it now back to Garry.
Garry O. Ridge -- Chief Executive Officer
Hey, thanks, Jay. In summary, what did you hear from us on the call today? You heard that both our sales and earnings for the third quarter reflect new records for the Company. You heard that global sales of WD-40 Multi-Use Product were up 7% in the third quarter. You heard that global sales of WD-40 Specialist grew 8% in the third quarter. You heard that we continue to increase penetration of Smart Straw and distribution of the WD-40 EZ-REACH Flexible.
You heard that Linda Lang has announced her retirement from our board of directors and that I expect to be stepping into her Board Chair position beginning in December. You heard that we've promoted Steve Brass to the role of President and Chief Operating Officer, and Patricia Olsem to the role of Division President-Americas. You heard that our net sales guidance remains unchanged, but we have strengthened our guidance for net income and EPS.
In closing, I'd like to share with you a quote today from Anne Mulcahy: one of the things we often miss in succession planning is that it should be gradual and thoughtful, with lots of sharing of information and knowledge and perspective, so it's almost a nonevent when it happens. Thank you for joining us today, and we'd be pleased to open the conference call to your questions.
Questions and Answers:
Operator
(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from Linda Bolton Weiser with D.A. Davidson. Your line is open.
Cindy Ding -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst
Hi. This is Cindy Ding on for Linda. Thanks for taking our questions. So, first, did you see any shelf space changes at any retailer?
Garry O. Ridge -- Chief Executive Officer
Shelf space changes, well, no.
Cindy Ding -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst
Okay.
Garry O. Ridge -- Chief Executive Officer
No, there was no change in our shelf distribution.
Cindy Ding -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst
Okay. Thank you. And then, now that the gross margin is at around the 55% targeted level, do you see potentials to get to a higher level going forward?
Garry O. Ridge -- Chief Executive Officer
Yeah. As we've always said, we believe we do have upside on our gross margin and it will continue to be impacted as we roll out our premiumization strategy with things like Smart Straw, the next generation of Smart Straw, EZ-REACH and as our Specialist product range grows as a percentage of our overall revenue.
Cindy Ding -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst
Great. And as a follow-up to that question, are there any updates you can provide on the new Smart Straw system? And when should we expect to learn about pricing and margin details?
Garry O. Ridge -- Chief Executive Officer
The commercialization plan is currently being reviewed. We expect that we would start seeing some of the next generation of Smart Straw into the market as we predicted sometime around the middle of next year. And we'll keep you updated as we get closer.
Cindy Ding -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst
Thank you. Is the next calendar year?
Garry O. Ridge -- Chief Executive Officer
Yes.
Cindy Ding -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst
Thank you. And then, what are some initiatives to get the cost of doing business to 30% of sales?
Garry O. Ridge -- Chief Executive Officer
The biggest driver for cost of business was increase of revenue. We've often said that it's really about getting leverage out of the infrastructure we have. So, as our revenue grows, then you will see that that will have an impact on the cost of doing business ratio.
Cindy Ding -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst
Thank you. That's all of our questions.
Garry O. Ridge -- Chief Executive Officer
Thank you very much.
Operator
Your next question is from Daniel Rizzo with Jefferies. Your line is open.
Daniel Rizzo -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Hi. Just to follow-up on, I think, what you was talking about, last call, you mentioned that rotation at the warehouse was a headwind in the U.S., I think it was just some product rotation and I think that was being referred to in terms of shelf space. Is that still an issue now or that kind of ended?
Garry O. Ridge -- Chief Executive Officer
In most cases, we are through the impacts that we had around pricing but we continue to have opportunities to increase distribution across the club channel and through that first round. We haven't lost any further distribution. So, again, we would expect we'll rotate in as we were rotated out sometime in the future.
Daniel Rizzo -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Okay. And then, I think you mentioned that that sales were strong in Asia, China was flat and Australia was down a little bit. I was just wondering what region you were seeing kind of the strength then, I mean, what specific country or area?
Garry O. Ridge -- Chief Executive Officer
The biggest gain in the Asia-Pacific region was through our distributor markets. Those are countries like Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Taiwan, Korea, Japan, there's a few others, but all of our distributor markets. And this time last year, we had a -- we had a period of time where we were changing our distributors in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, so that had a negative impact. That's why there was such a large increase in the in the distributor markets. Australia primarily is due to currency, we would expect that to -- Australia to end up in growth in the year end. We have no -- and as far as China is concerned, we're very comfortable that we continue to grow at a reasonable rate in China as we build out the business to our long-term plans.
Daniel Rizzo -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Is China more of a direct market at this point?
Jay Rembolt -- Chief Financial Officer
China is a direct market, has been for 12 years.
Daniel Rizzo -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Okay. All right. Thank you for clarification. And then finally, just -- you mentioned tough comps in Canada and I think Latin America because of pre-buying last year led to a big spike in the second quarter -- I'm sorry, in the third fiscal quarter. I was wondering why that wasn't the case in the U.S. or was it and you just kind of overcame that?
Jay Rembolt -- Chief Financial Officer
Correct. It was and we overcame it in the U.S. I think I mentioned in the call that the results were particularly pleasing in the U.S. because we did have some buy up against price rise last year, but our programs this year enabled us to come back and beat that in this fiscal year.
Daniel Rizzo -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Thank you very much.
Jay Rembolt -- Chief Financial Officer
Thanks, Daniel.
Operator
Your next question is from Rosemarie Morbelli with G.research. Your line is open.
Rosemarie Morbelli -- G Research -- Analyst
Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and congratulations to all the promotions and for the succession plan.
Garry O. Ridge -- Chief Executive Officer
Thank you.
Rosemarie Morbelli -- G Research -- Analyst
So, I was wondering if you could give us a better feel for pricing versus volume and what do you expect going forward for the balance of the year.
Garry O. Ridge -- Chief Executive Officer
Most of the gains that you'll see in the balance of the year are volume, pricing has already been factored into our trading. So, Jay, I think that would be about correct.
Jay Rembolt -- Chief Financial Officer
For the remainder of the year? Yes. Yeah, we don't see any additional pricing increases.
Rosemarie Morbelli -- G Research -- Analyst
And do you see your raw material costs continuing to come down? Any change on the cans for example in addition to the petroleum?
Garry O. Ridge -- Chief Executive Officer
Actually cans have gone up. There's probably some residual impact of tariffs, even though we buy our cans in the U.S. in places very close to where we sell our product. There has been some increase in can costs and it's somewhat coincident with the timing of tariffs.
Rosemarie Morbelli -- G Research -- Analyst
And what do you hear in terms of tariff anecdotally by your customers in the different regions? Is the outlook kind of improving or is it the positiveness that one may have had a year ago is really -- has moved all the way into the negative territory?
Jay Rembolt -- Chief Financial Officer
I wouldn't say things have moved into the negative. I think there is a continuing uncertainty out there. You've got a number of things that are impacting us at the moment, the uncertainties around Brexit, the uncertainties around trade talks. So, we can -- as most companies and most people deal with risks, they have a real problem dealing with uncertainty. So, that seems to be some of the area, but I wouldn't say it's gone to negative. I'd say it's moderate.
Rosemarie Morbelli -- G Research -- Analyst
Okay. And then lastly, if I may. You are looking at revenues being closer to the lower end of your expectations and the EPS now lower and is your previous high end. So, is the benefit solely from the lower tax rate or are there other factors in between that are going to allow you to have a higher margin for intended (ph) purposes in order to get to those numbers?
Garry O. Ridge -- Chief Executive Officer
It all comes from the change in tax for the most part.
Rosemarie Morbelli -- G Research -- Analyst
Nothing else? No other benefits anywhere else?
Garry O. Ridge -- Chief Executive Officer
There could be, but it's too soon to tell.
Rosemarie Morbelli -- G Research -- Analyst
Okay, thank you.
Jay Rembolt -- Chief Financial Officer
Thanks.
Operator
Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our allotted time for questions. We thank you for your participation on today's conference call and ask that you please disconnect your line.
Duration: 38 minutes
Call participants:
Wendy Kelley -- Director of Investor Relations and Corporate Communications
Garry O. Ridge -- Chief Executive Officer
Jay Rembolt -- Chief Financial Officer
Cindy Ding -- D.A. Davidson -- Analyst
Daniel Rizzo -- Jefferies -- Analyst
Rosemarie Morbelli -- G Research -- Analyst
