This Small Consumer Goods Company Is Quietly Up 213% in the Last Year
Spectrum Brands (NYSE: SPB) -- the holding company for household basics like Kwikset, Remington, George Foreman, Black & Decker, and Spectracide -- has put up some unlikely performance in the last year. Since this time last year, shares are up an incredible 213%. Granted, this consumer goods company is still down from its multiyear highs posted in 2017, but it's making progress reorganizing its corporate structure and benefiting from a spike in at-home spending. I would caution investors against chasing returns, but if dividend income is what you're after, this is a solid option.
First, it's worth spending some time on the incredible quarter Spectrum Brands just posted. For the three months ended Jan. 3, the first quarter of its fiscal 2021, revenue boomed 31% higher from the same period the previous year to $1.15 billion -- including a 28% increase in organic sales (which excludes the effects of acquisitions and divestitures). Normalizing consumer spending during the busy holiday shopping months after nine months of pandemic and retailer restocking led to the big jump. E-commerce was a standout, up 54% from a year ago.
Even more pronounced, Spectrum's adjusted EBITDA (which excludes discontinued operations) doubled from last year to $204 million. That was good for a healthy EBITDA profit margin of 18%. A key area of focus for Spectrum in the last year has been improving its supply chain and getting its product mix optimized with retailers. Clearly the efforts are yielding results, as the bottom line accelerated at a much faster rate than sales.
Source Fool.com
