Shares jumped nearly 15% after second-quarter adjusted earnings beat forecasts, helped by tariff recoveries, and a heavily shorted stock amplified the rally.
Newell Brands raised its full-year adjusted earnings outlook after second-quarter results topped Wall Street expectations, helped in part by about $126 million in pretax tariff recoveries related to IEEPA tariffs. The company now expects full-year adjusted earnings of 73 cents to 77 cents per share, up from 56 cents to 60 cents, with projected sales of $7.276 billion to $7.348 billion versus a prior range of $7.204 billion to $7.348 billion. Shares of the consumer products company surged nearly 15% on Friday as the earnings beat and higher guidance triggered a short squeeze, with short interest at 21.65% of the public float. For the quarter ended June 30, Newell reported net income of $106 million, or 25 cents per share, while adjusted earnings reached 42 cents per share, above consensus estimates of 20 cents from Benzinga and 19 cents in a Zacks Investment Research survey of five analysts. Net sales rose 3% to $1.994 billion, ahead of the $1.978 billion consensus, and core sales increased 2.3%.