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Newell Rubbermaid warns
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October 24, 2000: 2:08 p.m. ET
Meets 3Q target, but said soft sales, higher costs will hurt 4Q and 2001
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Consumer products maker Newell Rubbermaid Inc. became the latest company Tuesday to lower earnings guidance for the fourth quarter and next year, even as it was reporting a record third-quarter profit that met expectations.
The company said that a weakening of sales that began at the end of September and continued through this month led the company to project fourth-quarter earnings of 43 to 48 cents a share, down from the 54 cents a share earned in the year-ago quarter. Analysts surveyed by earnings tracker First Call had forecast an increase in profits to 55 cents a share in the quarter.
 The company also said 2001 earnings are expected to be in the $1.85 to $1.95 range. Analysts had forecast full year profits to hit $2.01 a share for the year.
"Because of softening retail sales, any substantial price increases are difficult to achieve," said the company's statement. "But, we have incurred significantly higher costs, primarily with respect to raw materials."
For the recently completed third quarter, earnings, excluding special charges, hit $125.6 million, or 47 cents a share, in line with First Call's forecast. The company earned $124.6 million, or 44 cents a share, in the year-earlier quarter. Sales hit $1.7 billion, up 4.8 percent from $1.6 billion a year earlier.
Besides its best-known famous Rubbermaid-brand products, Freeport, Ill.,-based Newell Rubbermaid has a range of office, children's and kitchen products under names such as Pyrex glassware, Rolodex office storage and organization products and Graco, Century and Little Tikes brands of children's products.
Shares of Newell Rubbermaid (NWL: Research, Estimates) fell 81 cents to $21.25 in trading Tuesday afternoon immediately after the earnings statement and warning. 
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Newell Rubbermaid
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