Constellation Brands stock slides 4% premarket after company swings to Q2 loss

Constellation Brands Inc. shares slid 4% in premarket trade Thursday, after the Corona beer distributor swung to a loss for its fiscal second quarter. The company said it had a net loss of $525.2 million, or $2.52 a share, in the quarter to Aug. 31, after income of $1.149.5 billion, or $5.41 a share, in the year-earlier period. The company said its share of equity losses and related activities from its $4 billion investment in Canadian cannabis company Canopy Growth Corp. came to $484.4 million, while it recognized $46 million of charges related to cost cutting. Adjusted per-share earnings came to $2.72, ahead of the $2.63 FactSet consensus. Sales rose 2% to $2.344 billion, matching the FactSet consensus. Beer sales rose to $1.640 billin from $1.527 billion. Wine and spirit sales fell to $703.6 million from $772.0 million. The company said it now expects fiscal 2020 EPS of 55 cents to 75 cents and adjusted EPS of $9.00 to $9.20. The current FactSet consensus is for fiscal 2020 adj. EPS of $8.56. Shares have gained 28.6% in 2019, while the S&P 500 has gained 15.2%.

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