Maintenance and repair supplier W.W. Grainger (NYSE:GWW) will be announcing earnings results tomorrow before market hours. Here’s what to look for.
W.W. Grainger met analysts’ revenue expectations last quarter, reporting revenues of $4.39 billion, up 4.3% year on year. It was a mixed quarter for the company, with full-year EPS guidance slightly topping analysts’ expectations but a slight miss of analysts’ organic revenue estimates.
Is W.W. Grainger a buy or sell going into earnings? Read our full analysis here, it’s free.
This quarter, analysts are expecting W.W. Grainger’s revenue to grow 6% year on year to $4.24 billion, in line with the 5.1% increase it recorded in the same quarter last year. Adjusted earnings are expected to come in at $9.74 per share.
Analysts covering the company have generally reconfirmed their estimates over the last 30 days, suggesting they anticipate the business to stay the course heading into earnings.
Looking at W.W. Grainger’s peers in the maintenance and repair distributors segment, some have already reported their Q4 results, giving us a hint as to what we can expect. MSC Industrial’s revenues decreased 2.7% year on year, beating analysts’ expectations by 2.7%, and Fastenal reported revenues up 3.7%, falling short of estimates by 1%. MSC Industrial’s stock price was unchanged after the results, while Fastenal was up 1.8%.
Read our full analysis of MSC Industrial’s results here and Fastenal’s results here.
There has been positive sentiment among investors in the maintenance and repair distributors segment, with share prices up 3.9% on average over the last month. W.W. Grainger is up 7.1% during the same time and is heading into earnings with an average analyst price target of $1,083 (compared to the current share price of $1,114).
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