The U.S. stock market fell in Wednesday trading despite positive data that showed wholesale inventories jumped 0.6% in May. Sales shot up 2.5% during the month. The ratio of inventories to sales fell to 1.24 from 1.27, however.
Shares of MSC Industrial Direct Co. Inc. (MSM, Financial) fell in Wednesday trading after the company posted third-quarter earnings per share of $1.39 on revenue of $828.3 million, representing 11.3% year-over-year growth. Earnings were in line with expectations, but revenue fell $5.88 million short of estimates.
The operating margin was 13.9%, or 14.5% excluding certain acquisitions, 80 basis points higher from the prior-year quarter.
“We continued to deliver gross margin stability, and our ongoing productivity efforts resulted in operating margin expansion," President and CEO Erik Gershwind said. "This was despite sales growth that was somewhat below my expectations due to the impact of our sales effectiveness initiatives and the related lower sales headcount."
Looking ahead, the company expects net sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 to be in the range of $829 million and $844 million. It expects diluted earnings per share to be between $1.24 and $1.30.
Gainers
- Fastenal Co. (FAST, Financial)
- Nordstrom Inc. (JWN, Financial)
- Walt Disney Co. (DIS, Financial)
- Humana Inc. (HUM, Financial)
Losers
- Freeport-McMoRan Inc. (FCX, Financial)
- Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT, Financial)
- Hess Corp. (HES, Financial)
- F5 Networks Inc. (FFIV, Financial)
Global markets
The main European stock markets traded mostly in red. The U.K.'s FTSE 100 retreated 1.3%, France's CAC 40 fell 1.48%, Germany's Dax tumbled 1.53% and Spain's Ibex 35 lost 1.57%.
In Asia, markets closed in negative territory. Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 1.19%, India’s BSE Sensex rose 0.07%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng slid 1.29% and China's Shanghai Composite fell 1.76%.
Disclosure: The author holds no positions in any stocks mentioned.
