Stanley Black's Q3 Earnings Beat Estimates, Revenues Miss

Stanley Black & Decker, Inc. SWK reported third-quarter 2025 adjusted earnings of $1.43 per share, which beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.19. The bottom line increased 17.2% year over year.

Stanley Black’s net sales of $3.76 billion missed the consensus estimate of $3.77 billion. The top line was in line with the year-ago quarter.

Stanley Black’s Segmental Discussion

Effective from the first quarter of 2025, SWK has renamed the Industrial segment as the Engineered Fastening segment. It had no impact on the company's consolidated financial statements or segment results.

Revenues from the company’s primary segment, Tools & Outdoor, totaled $3.26 billion, which were in line with the year-ago quarter. Our estimate was $3.31 billion.

Revenues from the Engineered Fastening segment grossed $501 million, up 3% year over year. Our estimate was $451.2 million.

SWK’s Margin Profile

Stanley Black’s cost of sales was down 2% year over year to $2.58 billion. The gross profit increased 5.2% year over year to $1.18 billion. The gross margin increased 150 basis points (bps) year over year to 31.4%.

Selling, general and administrative expenses decreased 0.8% year over year to $791 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $461.0 million, indicating a year-over-year increase of 13.4%. The margin increased 150 bps to 12.3%.

SWK’s Balance Sheet and Cash Flow

While exiting the third quarter, Stanley Black had cash and cash equivalents of $268.3 million compared with $290.5 million at the end of fourth-quarter 2024. The long-term debt balance was $4.70 billion, lower than $5.6 billion reported at the end of fourth-quarter 2024.

In the first nine months of 2025, net cash generated by operating activities was $15.5 million compared with $427.8 million generated in the year-ago period. Capital and software expenditures totaled $210.5 million, down from $239.4 million reported in the year-ago period. Free cash flow (before dividends) was a negative $195.0 million compared with $188.4 million a year ago.

In the first nine months, SWK paid out dividends worth $374.3 million to its shareholders, up 1.9% from the year-ago period.

SWK’s 2025 Guidance

Stanley Black expects total revenues to be in the range of (1%)-flat on a year-over-year basis. The company anticipates earnings to be $2.55-$2.70 per share compared with $3.45 (+/- $0.10) expected earlier. Adjusted earnings are projected to be approximately $4.55 per share. The company targets to generate annual free cash flow (non-GAAP) of approximately $600 million.

SWK’s Zacks Rank

The company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). 

You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Performance of Other Companies

Dover Corporation DOV reported earnings of $2.62 per share in third-quarter 2025, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.50. This compares with earnings of $2.27 per share a year ago.

Dover posted revenues of $2.08 billion in the quarter, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 0.6%. This compares with year-ago revenues of $1.98 billion.

Ardagh Metal Packaging S.A. AMBP came out with earnings of eight cents per share in the third quarter of 2025, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of seven cents. This compares with earnings of eight cents per share a year ago.

Ardagh Metal posted revenues of $1.43 billion in the quarter, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.7%. This compares with year-ago revenues of $1.31 billion. 

Packaging Corporation of America PKG reported earnings of $2.73 per share in the third quarter, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.83. This compares with earnings of $2.65 per share a year ago.

Packaging Corp. posted revenues of $2.31 billion in the quarter, surpassing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 2.2%. This compares with year-ago revenues of $2.18 billion.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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