Snap-on Inc. on Thursday reported flat sales in its latest fiscal quarter, while its profit, operating earnings and net earnings each fell compared to the same period last year.
The Wisconsin-based tool and equipment maker again posted second-quarter net sales of $1.18 billion. Company officials said favorable foreign currency translation in the latest quarter helped offset a decline in organic revenue.
Gross profit was down slightly, slipping from $597.3 million in the second quarter of last year to $595.5 million. Earnings totals, however, were down by larger margins: operating earnings dropped from $350.5 million to $327.3 million year-over-year, and net earnings fell from $277.6 million to S256.8 million over that span.
Officials called the company’s operating earnings “solid” despite “the volatile nature of the ongoing environment,” and noted that its tools business saw year-over-year growth in the quarter. Snap-on issued a forecast only for capital expenditures and its income tax rate, but said that it has demonstrated “continuing and considerable resilience against the uncertainties of the current environment.”
“We proceed with confidence that our balanced approach of growth and improvement will prevail as we move forward and upward,” Snap-on Chairman and CEO Nick Pinchuk said in a statement.
