Writing implements firm Newell Rubbermaid (NYSE:NWL) marginally beat expectations with third quarter earnings, though sales were a tad below par.
The maker of Paper Mate and Parker pens said net sales in the third quarter rose to US$1.53bn from US$1.48bn, with core – or like-for-like - sales up 5.9%.
The market had been expecting turnover of US$1.54bn.
Net sales for the Writing division and the Home Solutions business were virtually identical at around US$458.5mln, with the former seeing a 1.4% increase and the latter a 10.2% gain.
Net sales in the Tools division rose 8.4% to US$197.8mln while in the Baby & Parenting unit net sales advanced 14.4% to US$206.7mln.
Commercial Products let the side down, as the top line dipped 5.1% to US$207.8mln.
Reported net income rose to US$134.2mln from US$122.3mln in the corresponding period of 2014, while what the company calls normalized net income climbed to US$168.1mln from US$159.1mln.
Normalized diluted earnings per share (EPS) of 62 cents were up from 58 cents the year before and a penny ahead of the consensus forecast on Wall Street.
In keeping with a lot of export-focused U.S. companies, Newell said its earnings had been depressed by the strength of the greenback.
Overall, the company expects foreign currency to have a negative impact of about 41-44 cents per diluted share on 2015 normalized EPS.
The strength of the dollar did not stop the company from raising its sales guidance for 2015, with the company now expecting core sales over the full year to be up 5-5.5% on 2014, which is an increase of half a percentage point at both ends of the range.
Shares were little changed in pre-market trading.