Energizer Q3 2026 Earnings Report

Energizer EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.75
• Consensus EPS: $0.83
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$0.08
• One Year Ago EPS: $2.13

Energizer Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $734.10 million
• Expected Revenue: $720.29 million
• Beat/Miss: Beat by +$13.81 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: +1.20%

Energizer Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q3 2026
• Date: 8/4/2026
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Tuesday, August 4, 2026
• Conference Call Time: 10:00AM ET

Energizer (NYSE:ENR) (NYSE: ENR) is a global consumer products company focused on household batteries, specialty batteries, portable lighting and automotive appearance and maintenance products. Its portfolio includes well-known battery brands such as Energizer, Eveready and Rayovac, along with automotive brands including Armor All, STP, A/C PRO and Nu Finish.

The company offers alkaline, lithium, rechargeable and specialty batteries for consumer electronics, toys, portable devices and other everyday applications. Its automotive products include appearance, cleaning, protection and performance solutions sold through retail, automotive and other distribution channels.

Energizer serves consumers and commercial customers across North America, Europe and other international markets through a broad network of retailers, distributors and e-commerce platforms. The company was separated from Edgewell Personal Care in 2015 and expanded its portfolio through the acquisition of Spectrum Brands’ battery and portable lighting businesses in 2019. Energizer is headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, and is led by President and Chief Executive Officer Mark LaVigne.

Energizer Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Negative Sentiment: Energizer lowered its full-year outlook after battery-category trends softened by roughly 200–300 basis points as consumers became more cautious and value-focused. Back-half organic growth is now expected to be roughly flat to up 1%, versus the prior expectation of about 4%.
• Positive Sentiment: Despite the weaker category, management said Energizer is gaining global volume and value share, expanding distribution, advancing innovation, and outperforming the battery market. U.S. value grew 1.8% and volume increased 5% in the quarter while the category declined.
• Positive Sentiment: Profitability is improving, with gross margin up more than 430 basis points from first-quarter levels and fourth-quarter gross margin expected to exceed 40%. Management expects approximately 25% adjusted EPS growth at the midpoint in the fourth quarter.
• Positive Sentiment: Strong free cash flow and debt reduction remain priorities, supported by lower Project Momentum cash costs, reduced capital expenditures, productivity initiatives, and expected collection of approximately $53 million in remaining IEEPA tariff credits.
• Neutral Sentiment: Management characterized the battery slowdown as a near-term consumer and shopping-behavior issue rather than a structural shift toward battery-free technologies, citing healthy device usage and replacement frequency. Commodity costs, tariffs, foreign exchange, and logistics remain moving parts that will be addressed in the next outlook.

Presentation

[Operator]

Morning. My name is Kelsey, and I'll be your conference operator for today's call. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to Energizer's third fiscal year 2026 conference call. Please note that at this time, all lines are in listen-only mode, and following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please star zero for the operator. This event is being recorded Tuesday, August 4th, 2026. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Mr. Jon Poldan, Vice President, Global Finance, Treasurer, and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

[Jon Poldan, VP of Global Finance, Treasurer, and Investor Relations at Energizer]

Good morning, and welcome to Energizer's third quarter fiscal 2026 conference call. Joining me today are Mark LaVigne, President and Chief Executive Officer, and John Drabik, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. In just a moment, Mark will share a few opening comments, and then we'll take your questions. A replay of this call will be available on the investor relations section of our website, energizerholdings.com.

[Jon Poldan, VP of Global Finance, Treasurer, and Investor Relations at Energizer]

In addition, please note that our earnings release, prepared remarks, and a slide deck are also posted on our website. During the call, we will make forward-looking statements about the company's future business and financial performance, among other matters. These statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results to differ materially from these statements. We do not undertake to update these forward-looking statements.

[Jon Poldan, VP of Global Finance, Treasurer, and Investor Relations at Energizer]

Other factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from these statements are included in reports we file with the SEC. We also refer in our presentation to non-GAAP financial measures. The reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures to comparable GAAP measures is shown in our press release issued earlier today, which is available on our website.

[Jon Poldan, VP of Global Finance, Treasurer, and Investor Relations at Energizer]

Information concerning our categories and estimated market share discussed on this call relates to the categories where we compete and is based on Energizer's internal data from industry analysis, and estimates we believe to be reasonable. The battery category information includes both brick and mortar and e-commerce retail sales. Unless otherwise noted, all comments regarding the quarter and year pertain to Energizer's fiscal year, and all comparisons to prior year relate to the same period in fiscal 2025. With that, I would like to turn the call over to Mark.

[Mark LaVigne, President and CEO at Energizer]

Good morning, and thanks for joining us today. As in prior quarters, we posted prepared remarks on our website that provide a detailed review of our third quarter performance and our outlook. I wanted to begin with a few brief comments. As we move through fiscal 2026, our priorities remain centered on strengthening the earnings power of the business, generating strong free cash flow, and continuing to improve our balance sheet.

[Mark LaVigne, President and CEO at Energizer]

In the third quarter, we delivered organic growth across both batteries and lights and auto care, while sustaining the margin recovery achieved since the beginning of the year. These results reflect the actions we've taken over multiple years to strengthen our brands, improve execution, streamline our cost structure, and build a more resilient organization.

[Mark LaVigne, President and CEO at Energizer]

While consumer demand moderated in the quarter, our business continues to benefit from the progress across key strategic initiatives, enabling Energizer to meaningfully outperform the battery category. We expanded distribution, advanced innovation, and made further progress on the transition of APS sales into the Energizer branded portfolio. At the same time, Project Momentum has improved our operational flexibility and positioned us to navigate a range of operating environments while maintaining a focus on profitability and cash generation.

[Mark LaVigne, President and CEO at Energizer]

Looking ahead, we remain confident in our strategy and the actions already underway across the business. We expect strong fourth quarter earnings growth to be supported by productivity initiatives, supply chain optimization, and the work we have done throughout the year to strengthen the profitability of the business. We believe these actions position us well to continue creating value through strong free cash flow generation and disciplined capital allocation.

[Mark LaVigne, President and CEO at Energizer]

Thank you for your continued interest in Energizer. With that, let's open the call for questions.

[Operator]

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we'll now begin the question-and-answer session. Should you have a question, please press the star followed by the one on your touchtone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press the star followed by the two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. One moment please for your first question. Your first question comes from Lauren Lieberman from Barclays. Please go ahead.

[Lauren Lieberman, Analyst at Barclays]

Great. Thanks so much. I wanted to start by just kind of getting more detail on the change in guidance. One quarter less, you moved to the low end of the range after an in-line delivery this quarter. Just wanted to better understand the drivers of that change. Thanks.

[Mark LaVigne, President and CEO at Energizer]

Good morning, Lauren. When we spoke in May, our expectation at that time was that the back half of the year would deliver around 4% organic growth. Today, we expect the back half to be roughly flat to up 1%. Clearly there's been a change in the demand outlook.

[Mark LaVigne, President and CEO at Energizer]

The primary driver behind this is in the battery category. At the time of the Q2 call, we expected the category to be roughly flat through the balance of the year. Since then, consumers have remained more cautious than we anticipated, and the battery category trends have softened by roughly 200 to 300 basis points relative to those expectations. Those items have been reflected in the outlook we've provided today. This is more of a category adjustment than it is really an Energizer adjustment. The business is actually performing well within the environment that we're seeing.

[Mark LaVigne, President and CEO at Energizer]

We continue to gain share, we're expanding distribution, we're launching innovation, and we're outperforming the category. While we've taken a more prudent view on our top-line demand, our confidence in the business has not changed at all. The actions we've been taking are working. We're improving the quality of the portfolio, rebuilding margins, and strengthening the earnings power and increasing financial flexibility. I would also point out the earnings, and cash flow story remains very much intact. Gross margin has improved more than 430 basis points from first quarter levels. We expect fourth quarter gross margin to be north of 40%, and we expect 25% adjusted EPS growth at the midpoint in Q4. At the same time, we expect strong free cash flow generation and meaningful debt reduction.

[Mark LaVigne, President and CEO at Energizer]

All in, that's kind of the way we were thinking about the balance of the year and wanted to provide that outlook for Q4 as well as finishing up 2026.

[Lauren Lieberman, Analyst at Barclays]

Okay, great. Just one, given the slowdown in category growth that you're calling, I was just curious about your read on retailer inventory levels. I know there have been some retailer inventory dynamics in the first half of the fiscal year, but with the incremental slowing in the category, is that something we should watch out for further from here?

[Mark LaVigne, President and CEO at Energizer]

Thanks, Lauren. It is something we watch. We went through this, it occurred earlier this year, and there's actually a slide in the slides, or there's a reference in one of the slides we posted this morning where we referenced that in the first half. It was really the first part of this year where we dealt with some inventory destocking. We do not expect it to be an additional meaningful headwind, and really it's embedded in the revised numbers that we provided today.

[Lauren Lieberman, Analyst at Barclays]

Okay. All right, great. Thanks so much. I'm going to pass it on.

[Mark LaVigne, President and CEO at Energizer]

Thanks, Lauren.

[Operator]

Thank you. Your next question comes from Andrea Teixeira from JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

[Andrea Teixeira, Analyst at JPMorgan]

Thanks, operator, good morning, everyone. I was just hoping to see if you can comment a little bit on that decline of 200 to 300 basis points from a volume perspective, from a pricing perspective. It seems like it's both, that consumers are also down-trading, not only volume-wise, but down-trading from a value perspective. Can you elaborate on that and also speak to not only the U.S. but international?

[Mark LaVigne, President and CEO at Energizer]

Sure, Andrea Teixeira, let me get started. I think it's important to separate near-term consumer environment from long-term health of the overall category. Consumers are being more selective today. They're looking for value. They're shopping across channels and pack sizes and managing overall basket spend more carefully.

[Mark LaVigne, President and CEO at Energizer]

That can pressure dollars and mix in the short term. Energizer's winning in this environment. In the U.S., our value grew 1.8%, volume grew 5%, while the category declined. We also gained volume and value share globally as well. I think on the promotional front, we have no interest in buying share. I think for our business, the category is more promotional today because consumers are seeking that value that I mentioned. The improvement we're seeing on our business is broader than just price. We're benefiting from better distribution, stronger execution, innovation, and the breadth of our portfolio.

[Mark LaVigne, President and CEO at Energizer]

The actions we're taking are resonating. Distribution gains, the strength of our brands, and the breadth of our portfolio allow us to meet consumers across both premium and value. We're not assuming that the consumer improves from here, but we are managing the business to win with consumers where they are today. I think you're seeing that play out. I would say in Q3, you are seeing a bit of a pricing headwind in Q3. We would expect that to be neutral in Q4. I would not extrapolate the trends you're seeing in Q3 into Q4.

[Andrea Teixeira, Analyst at JPMorgan]

That's helpful. Can you comment on the cost side, how we should be thinking of your outlook now with oil prices? You get less impacted because your cargo is value-added, just thinking of how to think about the commodity cost pressure also on the raw material side.

[John Drabik, EVP and CFO at Energizer]

Sure. Andrea, we've done a good job getting costs out of the system. We've seen improvement in gross margins from the beginning of the year to where we are now. As Mark mentioned, we're expecting fourth quarter gross margin to be in the low 40s, and that's really a clean number for the first time this year. By clean, I mean, we've had a lot of these in and outs. For instance, there won't be any IEEPA credits in our fourth quarter number. We think that reflects a lot of the hard work that we've done, and we're in much better shape. There's still a number of moving parts, and we've been talking about it for the last couple of quarters, commodities, tariffs, FX, logistics. We're going to be disciplined about providing a full view to that when we're ready. That should be next quarter.

[John Drabik, EVP and CFO at Energizer]

What I would say is we have a lot of levers that are available to us, including productivity, sourcing, network flexibility, operating efficiencies, and pricing where appropriate. Our goal, as we go forward, is going to be to maintain the margins we've worked to recover, as well as the overall earnings profile of the business. I would say the other area where I think we're seeing as we move forward, some important factors that I think will bolster our free cash flow, which is really important to the story. First, we're finishing up Project Momentum this year. We expect related cash costs to execute that program, which in large part like facility exits and severance, those should be significantly reduced going forward.

[John Drabik, EVP and CFO at Energizer]

The CapEx that we've been spending really for digital transformation and some of that supply chain transformation, that's been elevated in recent years in coordination with the Momentum program. We expect that to be down pretty significantly. We're pushing for 1% in net sales or $30 million to come back into the run rate basis. Then, we've talked about it last quarter, and it's starting to occur, but we've already collected about $11 million of IEEPA tariffs. That's on the recovery side. We expect the remaining $53 million that we've booked to provide a meaningful source of cash generation as we finish up this year and go into next year. Cash flow should be a strong story for us as we finish up the year and go into 2027.

[Andrea Teixeira, Analyst at JPMorgan]

Great. Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. Just as a reminder, if you do have a question, please press star one. Your next question comes from Rob Ottenstein from Evercore. Please go ahead.

[Rob Ottenstein, Analyst at Evercore]

Great. Thank you very much. First, just wanted to follow up on the category slowdown. Is this something that increased during the quarter, was fairly stable? Just a little bit of color on the cadence of that. I think you mentioned 200 to 300 basis points. Would that have been split roughly equally between price and volume? Just any color around that. My second question is, we get the Circana data, and in that, your main competitor had pretty dramatic declines, very high double-digit declines in volume in the period. I was wondering if you can give any color around that. It looks like a lost customer and any color in terms of if that's the fact, timing around that and circumstances, whether that's something that will likely benefit you going forward. Thank you.

[John Drabik, EVP and CFO at Energizer]

Good morning, Robert. I never like to speak on behalf of our competitors, so I think I would just direct questions that way. We see the scanner data just like you do. Rest assured, we are in the market competing and trying to win distribution and do it the right way. It all plays out in the scanner data that you receive. I think into your first question around the dynamic in the battery category, I think we referenced it in our last quarter, where we were seeing a bit of pressure on the consumer. I think as we worked our way through the quarter, we saw it accelerate a bit. We're not anticipating that it snaps back and improves in a meaningful way over the balance of the year, which led to the 200 to 300 basis call-down that we made this morning.

[John Drabik, EVP and CFO at Energizer]

I do think that's a near-term dynamic. I don't think it impacts our longer-term view of the category. Devices still continue to be healthy. Usage continues to be healthy. Change-out frequency is healthy. All the fundamentals behind category demand are in place. What you are seeing, though, is consumers reacting to in a more near-term environment where they're making choices. They're making choices about frequency of their spend. They're stretching dollars further, and as a result, they're seeking value, and they're more cautious. You're seeing that play out in the battery category, which results in our making a call for the Q4 that we did this morning.

[Rob Ottenstein, Analyst at Evercore]

Is this weakness split equally between volume and value and price, or is it biased in one direction or the other?

[John Drabik, EVP and CFO at Energizer]

What you saw in the quarter is there's a little bit of promotional activity, and there's a little bit of volume erosion in the quarter. I think going forward, you're going to see that split be it's going to be split a little bit between both. I think it's just our job to manage, continuing to connect with consumers, invest in promotion where it makes sense, drive the appropriate volume dynamics, keep the margin that we've worked hard to preserve intact so that we can go into 2027 with a stable margin, which allows the rest of our investment thesis to hold.

[Mark LaVigne, President and CEO at Energizer]

Yeah. I think our fourth quarter call, specifically for us, is that pricing would be neutral to slightly positive.

[Rob Ottenstein, Analyst at Evercore]

Great. Thank you very much.

[John Drabik, EVP and CFO at Energizer]

Thank you, Robert.

[Operator]

Thank you. Your next question comes from Brian McNamara from Canaccord Genuity. Please go ahead.

[Madison Callinan, Analyst at Canaccord Genuity]

Hi, this is Madison Callinan on for Brian. Thanks for taking our questions. Not to beat a dead horse, can you comment on the battery category struggles there? Is there something structural going on, whether it's a push towards battery-free technologies or something else? Is it pantry destocking? Thanks for any color you guys can give.

[John Drabik, EVP and CFO at Energizer]

Sure. Appreciate the question. There's nothing structural going on. The foundational health of the battery category is intact. Again, I mentioned devices continue to be stable in the household, usage, frequency. If anything, you're seeing a little bit of increased frequency because the power that these devices require is greater than it used to be. Structurally, the battery category is healthy.

[John Drabik, EVP and CFO at Energizer]

I think what you are seeing play out in the scanner data numbers is simply a reflection of consumer caution, value-seeking behavior, and the dynamic nature with which they shop. They're changing channels. They're changing pack sizes. All of that plays out in the scanner data. We feel as positive about the battery category today as we ever have.

[Madison Callinan, Analyst at Canaccord Genuity]

Great. Are there any nuances to holiday shipment timing that we should be mindful of for Q4 and Q1 of fiscal 2027? Thank you.

[John Drabik, EVP and CFO at Energizer]

Holiday timing? Anything that we're aware of was built into our call today. Again, our back half is right now between Q3 and Q4 will be flat to +1, that's built into any sort of pacing and phasing we have relative to holiday.

[Madison Callinan, Analyst at Canaccord Genuity]

Thank you.

[John Drabik, EVP and CFO at Energizer]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. Mark, you may please proceed.

[Mark LaVigne, President and CEO at Energizer]

Great. Thanks for joining us today and your interest in Energizer. Hope everyone has a great rest of the day.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude your conference call for today. We thank you very much for your participation. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.

Participants

Executives

• Jon Poldan, VP of Global Finance, Treasurer, and Investor Relations
• Mark LaVigne, President and CEO
• John Drabik, EVP and CFO

Analysts

• Lauren Lieberman, Analyst at Barclays
• Andrea Teixeira, Analyst at JPMorgan
• Rob Ottenstein, Analyst at Evercore
• Madison Callinan, Analyst at Canaccord Genuity