Press Release: Fortune Brands Sets Date For Fourth Quarter And Full-Year 2025 Earnings Announcement And Investor Conference Call

Looking back on home construction materials stocks’ Q3 earnings, we examine this quarter’s best and worst performers, including Fortune Brands and its peers.

Traditionally, home construction materials companies have built economic moats with expertise in specialized areas, brand recognition, and strong relationships with contractors. More recently, advances to address labor availability and job site productivity have spurred innovation that is driving incremental demand. However, these companies are at the whim of residential construction volumes, which tend to be cyclical and can be impacted heavily by economic factors such as interest rates. Additionally, the costs of raw materials can be driven by a myriad of worldwide factors and greatly influence the profitability of home construction materials companies.

The 12 home construction materials stocks we track reported a slower Q3. As a group, revenues along with next quarter’s revenue guidance were in line with analysts’ consensus estimates.

In light of this news, share prices of the companies have held steady. On average, they are relatively unchanged since the latest earnings results.

Fortune Brands

Targeting a wide customer base of residential and commercial customers, Fortune Brands makes plumbing, security, and outdoor living products.

Fortune Brands reported revenues of $1.15 billion, flat year on year. This print fell short of analysts’ expectations by 2.7%. Overall, it was a softer quarter for the company with a significant miss of analysts’ revenue estimates and a significant miss of analysts’ EPS estimates.

Interestingly, the stock is up 13.2% since reporting and currently trades at $55.21.

Read our full report on Fortune Brands here, it’s free.

Best Q3: Quanex

Starting in the seamless tube industry, Quanex manufactures building products like window, door, kitchen, and bath cabinet components.

Quanex reported revenues of $489.8 million, flat year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 4.4%. The business had an incredible quarter with a beat of analysts’ EPS estimates and a solid beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.

The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 21.9% since reporting. It currently trades at $18.38.

Slowest Q3: American Woodmark

Starting as a small millwork shop, American Woodmark is a cabinet manufacturing company that helps customers from inspiration to installation.

American Woodmark reported revenues of $394.6 million, down 12.8% year on year, falling short of analysts’ expectations by 2.4%. It was a disappointing quarter as it posted a significant miss of analysts’ revenue estimates and a significant miss of analysts’ adjusted operating income estimates.

Interestingly, the stock is up 11.9% since the results and currently trades at $58.01.

Read our full analysis of American Woodmark’s results here.

Owens Corning

Credited with the discovery of fiberglass, Owens Corning supplies building and construction materials to the United States and international markets.

Owens Corning reported revenues of $2.68 billion, down 2.9% year on year. This result missed analysts’ expectations by 0.5%. Overall, it was a slower quarter as it also produced revenue guidance for next quarter missing analysts’ expectations significantly and a significant miss of analysts’ adjusted operating income estimates.

The stock is down 1.5% since reporting and currently trades at $120.88.

Read our full, actionable report on Owens Corning here, it’s free.

Simpson

Aiming to build safer and stronger buildings, Simpson designs and manufactures structural connectors, anchors, and other construction products.

Simpson reported revenues of $623.5 million, up 6.2% year on year. This print topped analysts’ expectations by 3.1%. More broadly, it was a satisfactory quarter as it also recorded an impressive beat of analysts’ revenue estimates but a miss of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.

The stock is flat since reporting and currently trades at $177.45.

Read our full, actionable report on Simpson here, it’s free.

What Happened?

A number of stocks fell in the afternoon session after the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as much as 0.7%, reflecting lingering uncertainty, and capping off a volatile week which saw stocks enjoy some relief as President Donald Trump reduced tensions with European allies by backing off his threat of imposing new tariffs. 

Threats of tariffs initially created uncertainty for businesses, as they can lead to higher costs for multinational corporations and disrupt global supply chains. By withdrawing the threat, the administration removed a significant headwind for the market, prompting a relief rally. This development was a key factor in helping major indexes recover from earlier losses, even as some analysts noted that underlying geopolitical risks and market volatility remain concerns for investors.

The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.

Among others, the following stocks were impacted:

• Specialty Equipment Distributors company Herc fell 4.7%. Is now the time to buy Herc? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Professional Tools and Equipment company Middleby fell 2.7%. Is now the time to buy Middleby? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Building Materials company Resideo fell 2.8%. Is now the time to buy Resideo? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Home Construction Materials company Fortune Brands fell 3.6%. Is now the time to buy Fortune Brands? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
• Maintenance and Repair Distributors company MSC Industrial fell 2.6%. Is now the time to buy MSC Industrial? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.

Zooming In On Herc (HRI)

Herc’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 40 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 1 day ago when the stock gained 3.5% on the news that the US president announced a framework for a future deal with Greenland.

Wall Street saw a broad-based rally, with the S&P 500 gaining 1.2% as investor concerns over global trade tensions eased. The positive sentiment followed an announcement that reversed course on plans to impose tariffs linked to Greenland, which had caused steep market losses earlier in the week. This recovery reflected renewed optimism in the market, as the threat of a widening trade conflict appeared to subside, encouraging investors to move back into equities.

Herc is up 4.7% since the beginning of the year, but at $159.53 per share, it is still trading 24.4% below its 52-week high of $211.06 from January 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Herc’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $2,286.