Why Coty Stock Is Plummeting Today

Key Points

• Coty beat Wall Street's sales target in fiscal Q4, but the business posted an unexpected loss.

• Margin pressures have investors worried about the company's earnings outlook.

• Coty is guiding for another substantial sales decline in the current quarter, and the margins picture is concerning.

• 10 stocks we like better than Coty ›

Coty (NYSE: COTY) stock is getting crushed in Thursday's trading. The beauty products and fragrance company's share price was down 22.3% as of 2 p.m. ET. amid the backdrop of a 0.4% loss for the S&P 500 (SNPINDEX: ^GSPC).

After the market closed yesterday, Coty published results for the fourth quarter of its last fiscal year, which ended June 30. While the company posted sales that topped Wall Street's expectations, earnings fell short of the market's target. Making matters worse, management issued guidance that suggested more pain could be on the horizon.

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Coty stock crashes on big earnings miss

Coty reported a non-GAAP (generally accepted accounting principles) adjusted loss of $0.05 per share on sales of $1.25 billion. While the company's sales performance topped the average Wall Street analyst estimate by $40 million, its earnings performance fell short of the consensus target by $0.07 per share. With the business posting an unexpected loss and sales declining 8.1% year over year in the quarter, the consumer goods specialist is looking significantly weaker coming out of its latest quarterly report.

What's next for Coty?

While Coty is seeing some growth in its prestige-fragrance product category, the company's latest business update didn't arrive with much for investors to be excited about. Coty reiterated its guidance for like-for-like (LFL) sales to improve over the levels seen last quarter in the current fiscal year, but management said that it expects an LFL sales decline between 6% and 8% in fiscal Q1.

With worse-than-expected margins leading to an unexpected loss last quarter and guidance for another big sales decline in the current quarter, Coty's earnings outlook has taken a substantial turn for the worse.

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Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.