Shares of Nordson Corp. NDSN plummeted 13.7% toward a four-month in afternoon trading Tuesday, enough to pace the S&P 500’s SPX decliners, after the maker of products and systems used for adhesives, coatings and sealants missed fiscal first-quarter profit and sales expectations and cut its full-year outlook, as order entry has decreased in recent weeks and as several customers pushed out delivery dates. The company reported late Monday that net income for the quarter to Jan. 31 fell to $104.3 million, or $1.81 a share, from $120.4 million, or $2.05 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share of $1.95 missed the FactSet consensus of $1.97. Sales edged up 0.2% to $610.5 million, but that missed the FactSet consensus of $623.9 million. For fiscal 2023, the company cut its guidance ranges for revenue to flat to up 3% from growth of 1% to 7%, and for EPS to $8.75 to $9.50 from $8.75 to $10.10. The stock, which was on track to suffer the biggest one-day drop since it plunged 18.3% on March 16, 2020, has shed 8.1% over the past three months while the S&P 500 has gained 1.3%.
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