Acuity Brands Q2 results: “I am proud of the strong performance”

Acuity Brands Inc (NYSE: AYI) opened 1.0% up in the stock market on Tuesday after reporting market-beating results for its fiscal second quarter despite higher material and freight costs.

Acuity Brands Q2 financial highlights

• Net income printed at $75.3 million that translates to $2.13 per share.
• In the same quarter last year, it had posted $62.9 million in net income ($1.74 a share).
• Adjusted for one-time items, EPS stood at $2.57 as per the earnings press release.
• At $909.1 million, sales were up 17.1% on a year-over-year basis.
• FactSet consensus was for $2.38 of adjusted EPS on $884.6 million in sales.

What else was noteworthy in the earnings report

Improvement in productivity and raised prices, as per Acuity Brands, helped offset the inflationary pressures in the recent quarter. Cost of sales was up 20.4%, resulting in a hit to gross profit margin from 43.4% to 41.7%.

The lighting and building management company bought back $109.1 million worth of its stock in fiscal H1. Last week, Acuity Brands declared a quarterly per-share dividend of 13 cents. In the earnings press release, CEO Neil Ashe said:

The stock that trades at a PE multiple of 19.91 is down nearly 15% for the year.