What happened
Constellium N.V. (CSTM 0.63%), a Dutch manufacturer of aluminum aerospace and automotive products, got a big bump in share price today. The stock was up 14.7% as of 3:45 p.m. EDT.
The reason: second-quarter earnings.
Image source: Getty Images.
So what
More precisely, the reason was a guidance estimate packaged with an earnings announcement.
Constellium reported its fiscal Q2 2019 numbers this morning, and the earnings themselves weren't exactly great. The company earned 0.12 euros per share in the quarter, down 71% from the 0.41 euros per share earned a year ago. The big decline was a bit of a surprise, inasmuch as sales for the quarter actually grew 5%.
Management attributed the earnings decline primarily to "realized and unrealized losses on derivatives ... partially offset by lower income tax expense."
Now what
That's the bad news. The good news is that Constellium issued new guidance for growth in adjusted EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) for the rest of this year; by year-end, management now believes it will grow adjusted EBITDA by anywhere from 13% to 15%.
Since previous guidance was for adjusted EBITDA growth of only 8% to 10%, this qualifies as "good news" for Constellium: good enough, apparently, to drive the stock up more than 14%.
