What happened
Shares of Brady Corporation (BRC -0.80%) were moving higher today after the diversified supplier of identification and tracking solutions posted better-than-expected results in its fiscal fourth-quarter report.
As of 11:37 a.m. ET on Wednesday, the stock was up 11.9%.
So what
Brady, which makes a wide variety of products for tracking and organizing -- including radio-frequency ID tags, barcodes, printers, and software -- said that revenue in the quarter rose 6.8% to $345.9 million, which easily beat the analyst consensus at $329.2 million. The company saw 4.4% revenue growth in its Americas & Asia region and an 11.5% increase in Europe & Australia.
Gross margin in the quarter ticked up from 50.4% to 50.8% as the company managed costs well. That helped drive adjusted earnings per share (EPS) up 19.5% to $1.04, ahead of expectations at $0.93.
CEO Russell Shaller said: "Both regions performed well this year with total organic sales growth of 5.5% and strong growth in operating income. We have exciting new products in our pipeline, our regional reorganization is driving benefits throughout our businesses, and we're entering next fiscal year with positive momentum."
The company also authorized an additional $100 million in share buybacks.
Now what
Looking ahead, Brady called for adjusted EPS of $3.85 to $4.10 for the new fiscal year (a growth rate of 5.8% to 12.6%), which was better than estimates at $3.84.
Based on that forecast, the stock is trading a forward price-to-earnings ratio of less than 15, which seems like a good price to pay for a company delivering steady growth in a challenging environment.
