Brown-Forman profit and sales fall short, but company sticks with outlook

Brown-Forman Corp. said Wednesday it had net income of $200 million, or 97 cents a share, in its fiscal second quarter, compared with $208 million, or 97 cents a share, in the year-earlier period. Sales fell to $1.096 billion from $1.135 billion. The FactSet consensus was for EPS of 99 cents and sales of $1.104 billion. The distributor of alcohol brands, including Finlandia vodka and Jack Daniels whiskey said the strong dollar weighed on earnings, but "underlying results in the first half of the year remain strong and keep us on track to achieve our full year growth outlook." The company is still expecting full-year sales growth of 6% to 7% and EPS of $3.40 to $3.60. Shares were not yet active in premarket trade, but are up 18% in the year so far, while the S&P 500 has gained 2%.

Market Pulse Stories are Rapid-fire, short news bursts on stocks and markets as they move. Visit MarketWatch.com for more information on this news.