Avery Dennison beats Q3 earnings and revenue forecasts and narrows its 2026 profit outlook

The label and packaging maker earned $2.42 a share on $2.33 billion of revenue, and its full-year ranges now sit inside the ones it gave in July.

Avery Dennison earned $2.42 a share in the third quarter, $0.07 above forecasts, on revenue of $2.33 billion against $2.29 billion expected. The beat came as the company narrowed its outlook for 2026 rather than raised it.

It now expects reported EPS of $9.45 to $9.59 and adjusted EPS of $10.10 to $10.24. In July it guided to $9.40 to $9.70 reported and $10.00 to $10.30 adjusted, according to its second-quarter release. The new low ends are higher and the new high ends are lower. The adjusted range excludes an estimated $0.65 of restructuring charges and other items, which is the gap between the two sets of numbers.

CEO Deon Stander said organic growth continued despite higher inflation and customer destocking, and that operational agility drove productivity and strong free cash flow. Destocking was flagged before the report. Zacks Investment Research said the company expected much of the customer inventory built in the first half to unwind in the second, with most of it in the third quarter.

The company has beaten EPS consensus in each of the last four quarters, according to MarketBeat. In the second quarter it reported $2.89 against $2.47 expected.

Investors will have to weigh the reported and adjusted figures, since the $0.65 gap is large. Stander's view that organic growth is holding up is what later quarters will test. If destocking persists, the revenue beat may prove harder to repeat than the earnings beat.