NWLHIGH SIGNALFINANCIAL10-K

Newell Brands shows deteriorating operational performance with meaningfully reduced operating cash flow and operating income despite revenue growth, while interest expenses increased substantially.

The divergence between growing revenue and declining profitability suggests execution challenges in NWL's multi-year transformation strategy. The company's updated strategic language emphasizes "execution phase" progress, but financial results indicate margin compression and cash generation difficulties that could constrain reinvestment capabilities and debt servicing.

Comparing 2026-02-13 vs 2025-02-14View on EDGAR →
FINANCIAL ANALYSIS

Revenue grew modestly by 11.1% to $14.7B, but operational performance deteriorated significantly with operating income declining to $39M and operating cash flow falling to $264M. Higher interest expenses of $283M and expanded net losses of $285M, combined with reduced stockholders' equity, reflect a company struggling to convert top-line growth into sustainable profitability and cash generation during its strategic transformation.

FINANCIAL STATEMENT CHANGES
Operating Cash Flow
Cash Flow
-46.8%
$496.0M$264.0M

Operating cash flow fell 46.8% — earnings quality concerns; investigate working capital changes and non-cash items.

Operating Income
P&L
-41.8%
$67.0M$39.0M

Operating income deteriorated sharply — investigate whether driven by one-time charges or structural cost issues.

Net Income
P&L
-31.9%
-$216.0M-$285.0M

Net income declined 31.9% — review whether driven by operations, interest costs, or non-recurring items.

Interest Expense
P&L
+20.4%
$235.0M$283.0M

Interest costs rose 20.4% — monitor debt levels and coverage ratio in rising rate environment.

Stockholders Equity
Balance Sheet
-13.1%
$2.8B$2.4B

Equity decreased 13.1% — buybacks or losses reducing book value, monitor solvency ratios.

Accounts Receivable
Balance Sheet
+12.4%
$878.0M$987.0M

Receivables grew 12.4% — monitor days sales outstanding for collection efficiency.

Revenue
P&L
+11.1%
$13.3B$14.7B

Revenue growing 11.1% — solid top-line momentum, watch margins for quality of growth.

LANGUAGE CHANGES
NEW — 2026-02-13
PRIOR — 2025-02-14
ADDED
MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES 21 SUPPLEMENTARY ITEM EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF THE REGISTRANT 22 PART II 24 ITEM 5.
The Company sells its products in over 150 countries around the world and has operations on the ground in more than 45 of these countries, excluding third-party distributors.
BUSINESS STRATEGY The Company is actively advancing the strategic priorities identified through its comprehensive capability assessment completed in 2023.
These priorities are based on a clear set of where to play and how to win strategic choices with the goal of improving the Company s top line, expanding margins and improving cash flows with a new operating model, critical talent upgrades and a culture redesign.
In 2025, the Company continued to strengthen the foundational capabilities needed to compete effectively, and began to see progress across innovation, brand building, productivity and commercial execution.
While meaningful progress has been made, the Company remains in the execution phase of its multi-year transformation and expects the benefits of these capability improvements to continue to phase in over time.
) presidential administration as well as other countries retaliatory actions in response to such tariffs; and an evolving regulatory landscape.
The Company continues to deploy a comprehensive mitigation strategy in response to these exposures through pricing optimization, productivity enhancements and strategic manufacturing relocations where appropriate.
The Company remains committed to advancing its turnaround and positioning the business for sustainable, profitable growth over time, while maintaining a balanced and disciplined view of external conditions and factors outside the Company s control.
One such initiative is the organizational realignment ( Realignment Plan ), which was designed to strengthen the Company s front-end commercial capabilities, such as consumer understanding and brand communication, in support of the where to play and how to win strategies the Company initiated in 2023.
REMOVED
MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES 20 SUPPLEMENTARY ITEM EXECUTIVE OFFICERS OF THE REGISTRANT 21 PART II 23 ITEM 5.
The Company sells its products in over 150 countries around the world and has operations on the ground in over 40 of these countries, excluding third-party distributors.
BUSINESS STRATEGY Following a comprehensive assessment of key capabilities, starting in the second quarter of 2023, the leadership team began implementing an integrated set of new where to play and how to win strategies designed to enable the Company to leverage the scale of the portfolio, while further building upon its operational foundation and strengthening its front-end capabilities.
As part of its strategy, the Company is focused on: Driving meaningful improvement in front-end capabilities, including consumer understanding, brand management, brand communications, innovation and go-to-market execution; Disproportionately investing in the Company s largest and most profitable brands, fastest-growing channels and key geographies; Turning the Company s scale into a competitive advantage, enabling cost savings that provide fuel for reinvestment; and Transitioning to a high-performance organization as the Company transforms its culture.
The Company is implementing this strategy while continuing to address key challenges such as shifting consumer preferences and behaviors; a highly competitive operating environment; a rapidly changing retail and consumer landscape; continued macroeconomic and geopolitical volatility; a soft macro backdrop; significant inflationary pressures on consumers and an evolving regulatory landscape.
One such initiative is Project Ovid which entails a multi-year, customer centric supply chain initiative which has transformed the Company s go-to-market capabilities in the U.S., improving customer service levels and driving operational efficiencies.
Project Ovid optimized the Company s distribution network in 2022 and 2023 by creating a single integrated supply chain from 23 business-unit-centric supply chains.
The initiative reduced administrative complexity, improved inventory and invoicing workflow for our customers and enhanced product availability for consumers through omni-channel enablement.
This new operating model continues to drive efficiencies by better utilizing the Company s transportation and distribution network and consolidating the number of overall distribution sites.
In May 2023, the Company announced a restructuring and cost savings initiative that was intended to simplify and streamline its North American distribution network (the Network Optimization Project ) in order to improve the Company s cost structure and operating margins while maintaining focus on customer and consumer fulfillment.
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