The Tuppertoys Build 'N Play Train is one of Tupperware's newest product ideas. Image: Tupperware.
What: Shares of Tupperware Brands (TUP 1.96%) rose as much as 12.4% on Wednesday morning and were up 8% near market close. The direct-to-consumer personal products marketer reported third-quarter results in the early morning, beating Wall Street's estimates on both the top and bottom lines.
So what: Tupperware's third-quarter revenues declined 11% year over year to land at $521 million, held back by massive currency exchange headwinds. Counting the results in local currency, sales rose 7% instead. On the bottom line, adjusted earnings declined 12% to $0.79 per diluted share.
These results exceeded Tupperware's guidance for the quarter. Wall Street analysts would have settled for earnings of $0.70 per share on sales in the $517 million range.
Now what: Tupperware managed 3.1 million sellers across its global network in the third quarter, a 5% increase over the year-ago quarter. The number of active sellers also increased by 3%, led by strong jumps in newer markets such as South Africa and the Middle East region. The quarter's largest growth markets included Brazil, China, Indonesia, and South Africa.
The strong results in China were particularly welcome, since worries about the world's largest consumer market had pushed Tupperware shares as much as 25% lower over the summer. Those concerns have not affected Tupperware archrival Newell Rubbermaid (NWL -1.42%) as strongly, and Rubbermaid's stock hardly moved on Tupperware's news on Wednesday. Then again, Tupperware collects 84% of its sales outside U.S. borders while Rubbermaid's international sales only account for 24% of its total revenues. So it's fair to say that Rubbermaid investors weren't interested in Tupperware's good news about the health of China's consumer markets.
All told, Tupperware's share prices have now declined 5% in 2015, up from negative 23% in August and nearly catching up to the broader market's roughly breakeven returns.
