News

Sealed Air Corporation SEE is scheduled to report first-quarter 2024 results on May 5, before the opening bell.

Q1 Estimates

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for first-quarter revenues is pegged at $1.28 billion, suggesting a 5.1% dip from the year-ago reported figure. The consensus estimate for quarterly earnings is pinned at 53 cents per share, indicating a year-over-year decline of 28.4%

Sealed Air Corporation Price and EPS Surprise

Q4 Performance

Sealed Air’s fourth-quarter 2023 earnings and sales decreased year over year. However, the top and bottom lines beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate. The company has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 19.5%, on average.

What the Zacks Model Indicates

Our model does not predict an earnings beat for Sealed Air this time around. The combination of a positive Earnings ESP and a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), 2 (Buy) or 3 (Hold) increases the odds of an earnings beat. That is not the case here.

Earnings ESP: Sealed Air has an Earnings ESP of -7.26%. You can uncover the best stocks before they are reported with our Earnings ESP Filter.

Zacks Rank: The company currently carries a Zacks Rank of 3.

Key Factors

Sealed Air has been witnessing a downtrend in overall volumes over the past eight reported quarters. This reflects recessionary pressures in the industrial and fulfillment markets. In the Food segment, volumes decreased 3.3% in the fourth quarter of 2023. This was driven by food retail market declines and the impacts of supply disruptions.

We anticipate these factors to have impacted volumes in the first quarter. Our model projects the Food segment to witness a decline of 1.7% in volumes in the first quarter. For the Protective segment, our model indicates a volume decline of 3.3% in the first quarter.

Our model estimate for the Food segment’s first-quarter net sales is pegged at $817 million, suggesting a fall of 4.3% from the prior-year period’s reported figure. The impacts of lower volumes, along with the impacts of pricing (negative 2.5%), are likely to have dented the segment’s top line. Our estimate for the segment’s adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) stands at $168 million, indicating a year-over-year fall of 13.7%.

Our estimate for the Protective segment’s first-quarter net sales is $469 million, implying a year-over-year fall of 5.4%. This is mainly due to the volume decline and pricing impacts of 3.3%. Our estimate for the segment’s adjusted EBITDA is pegged at $78 million, suggesting a year-over-year decline of 2.6%.

Sealed Air’s overall volumes are expected to decline 2.3%, per our model. We expect pricing impacts of 2.4% for the quarter. The company’s first-quarter performance is likely to have been supported by the sustained demand for packaging of food, beverage and healthcare products, and e-commerce activities.

Savings from the company’s Reinvent SEE Strategy initiatives have been driving productivity gains and mitigating supply-chain challenges. This is expected to have driven the operating margin performance in the March-ended quarter.

In the past year, shares of Sealed Air have lost 32.1% against the industry’s 3.3% growth.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Stocks to Consider

Here are some stocks with the right combination of elements to post an earnings beat in their upcoming releases.

Eaton Corporation plc ETN, scheduled to release its first-quarter 2024 on Apr 30, currently has an Earnings ESP of +1.95% and a Zacks Rank of 2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The consensus estimate for Eaton’s earnings for the first quarter of 2024 is pegged at $2.28 per share. ETN has a trailing four-quarter average surprise of 4.8%

Ingersoll Rand Inc. IR, scheduled to release its first-quarter 2024 on May 2, has an Earnings ESP of +1.82% and a Zacks Rank of 2 at present.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Ingersoll Rand’s first-quarter 2024 earnings is pegged at 69 cents per share. It has a trailing four-quarter average surprise of 15.9%.

Chart Industries GTLS, scheduled to release its first-quarter 2024 on May 3, currently has an Earnings ESP of +9.86% and a Zacks Rank of 2.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Chart Industries’ first-quarter 2024 earnings is pegged at $1.88 per share, indicating 33.3% year-over-year growth. GTLS has a trailing four-quarter average surprise of 75.8%.

Stay on top of upcoming earnings announcements with the Zacks Earnings Calendar.

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The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.