Core & Main Inc. set a new quarterly sales record in its latest reporting period and raised its outlook for the full fiscal year, company officials announced Tuesday.
The St. Louis waterworks and infrastructure distributor — no. 6 on ID’s 2024 Big 50 — also reported higher profits and earnings per share, although its net income slipped amid higher interest and tax expenses.
The company’s Q3 net sales eclipsed the $2 billion mark, an 11.5% increase compared to the $1.83 billion in sales during the same window of 2023. Core & Main officials said acquisitions and higher end-market volumes fueled the increase, offsetting slightly lower prices. Sales of the company’s pipes, valves and fittings and storm drainage products increased year-over-year, while fire protection product sales declined over that span.
Steve LeClair, the company’s chairman and CEO, said record sales and adjusted EBITDA numbers showed that Core & Main “can grow in any environment.” The company closed five additional acquisitions during the latest quarter, as well.
"Overall, our teams are executing our strategy, outperforming the market with organic volume growth, and advancing our initiatives to support growth and margin expansion in 2025 and beyond,” LeClair said in a statement.
The distributor’s gross profit of $543 million was up nearly 10% compared to the third quarter of 2023, while adjusted EBITDA climbed 6.5% to $277 million. Q3 net income of $140 million was down by more than 11%, but diluted earnings of $0.69 per share represented a 6.2% increase.
Core & Main had lowered its full-year forecast in its previous earnings report amid “significant” weather disruptions and more modest growth projections, but the company bumped up its outlook heading into the final quarter of the year. Core & Main now anticipates full-year net sales of between $7.35 billion and $7.45 billion, and adjusted EBITDA between $915 million and $935 million.
LeClaire attributed the increase to recent results and acquisitions, along with “our expectation that both prices and our end markets will remain stable through the end of the year.”
