McCormick tumbles on profit miss, outlook
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — McCormick & Co. Inc. shares fell as much as 9% Thursday after the spice company reported fiscal fourth-quarter results that fell below Wall Street expectations. The move knocks the share price out of a nearly unbroken upward trend channel that since August 2011 had seen McCormick’s stock rise 45% in value. Before the opening bell, McCormick reported a 13% rise in fourth-quarter profit to .11 a share from 98 cents a share a year ago. Analysts surveyed by FactSet had been looking for .14. Higher costs for raw materials and packaging were blamed for the shortfall. For fiscal 2013, McCormick said it expects to earn .15 to .23 a share, which also fell below the .35 estimate based on FactSet’s survey of analysts. McCormick shares were last down 7.7% at .46, the second-biggest decliner in the S&P 500.
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