By Sabela Ojea
MSC Industrial Direct logged lower profit and sales in its fiscal first quarter and said it remains bullish on its long-term growth, even if macro conditions remain soft in the near term.
The metalworking and industrial products distributor on Wednesday posted a net profit for the three months ended Nov. 30 of $46.6 million, or 83 cents a share, compared with $69.4 million, or $1.22 a share, for the same period a year earlier.
Stripping out one-time items, the company's earnings per share came in at 86 cents. Analysts polled by FactSet had forecast adjusted earnings of 73 cents.
Sales fell 2.7% to $928.5 million as lower average daily sales decreased 2.7%, but beat the $904.9 million expected by Wall Street, according to FactSet.
The company had most recently guided for a decline in average daily sales of 4.5% to 5.5%.
"During the quarter, we returned to growth in the public sector and continued expanding our solutions footprint," Chief Executive Erik Gershwind said. "While this is an encouraging start to the fiscal year, there is room for improvement."
For the second quarter, the company expects average daily sales to be down 3% to 5%.
Write to Sabela Ojea at sabela.ojea@wsj.com; @sabelaojeaguix
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
January 08, 2025 06:53 ET (11:53 GMT)
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