What happened
Shares of Coty (COTY -2.91%) jumped as much as 21.2% Thursday, following the beauty products company's first-quarter results for fiscal 2018. The stock is up about 15% at the time of this writing.
The stock's rise likely reflects the quarter's better-than-expected profit. Coty's adjusted earnings per share for the quarter were $0.10. On average, analysts were expecting adjusted EPS of $0.07. Revenue of $2.24 billion was in line with analysts' consensus estimate for the quarter.
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So what
Coty's revenue of $2.24 billion and adjusted EPS of $0.10 compare to $1.08 billion and $0.23 in the year-ago quarter, respectively. Excluding the favorable impact on revenue of Coty's acquisitions of hair-care line ghd and cosmetics company Younique, Coty's organic revenue during the quarter was down 2% year over year in constant currency.
The quarter comes after a worse-than-expected fourth quarter that sent shares plummeting in August.
"Q1 was a much better quarter," explained Coty CEO Camillo Pane. "We saw strong growth in Luxury, continued positive momentum in Professional and a reduced net revenue decline in the Consumer Beauty division."
What now
Looking ahead, Pane expects quarter-to-quarter results to be "uneven." But he said that the company's improving revenue trends gave him confidence in the company's growth strategy, which he says is "moving Coty gradually onto a path of full recovery."
