Acuity Brands (AYI) Unveils WINLINE 500 Series Luminaires

Acuity Brands, Inc. (NYSE:AYI) has unveiled the WINLINE 500 Series of linear accent luminaires from Winona, MN. The new series offers superior optical performance, given exceptional beam control quality.

This multiple accent lighting applications luminary is laced with various design flexibility features for both indoor and outdoor applications requiring IP66-rated enclosures, and is suitable for flood lighting, grazing or wall washing. The WINLINE 500 Series provides multiple color temperature choices, including static white, static color, dynamic color, tunable white and warm dimming capabilities.

Innovation to Boost Profitability

Acuity Brands is totally focused on innovating new lightening solutions. Its diversified portfolio of innovative lighting control solutions and energy-efficient luminaries bode well for the company. In response to the rapidly changing market trends, Acuity Brands is continually expanding its portfolio of innovative lighting control solutions and energy-efficient luminaries. Also, it has been working on smart business strategies to achieve consistent growth.

Notably, in first-half fiscal 2019, its net sales growth was 6.7%, primarily driven by a 7% increase in volume and 1% favorable impact from acquisitions (net of divestitures). Overall, the company witnessed greater shipments across the channels and geographies.

In fiscal 2018, Acuity Brands introduced almost 100 product families to its industry-leading portfolio, thereby gaining market share in product categories and sales channels. Notably, its tier 3 and 4 solutions grew more than 30% during the second quarter of fiscal 2019.

The company’s Atrius-based IoT luminaires and solutions in the retail segment are becoming the industry standard. Sales of LED-based luminaires during fiscal 2018 accounted for approximately two-third of total net sales, reflecting significant dispersion of LEDs in the lighting market.

It remains confident of the lighting and lighting-related industry, and building automation systems that have the potential to experience solid growth over the next decade, particularly as energy and environmental concerns come to the forefront along with emerging opportunities for digital lighting to play a key role in the IoT.

Price Performance

Shares of Acuity Brands have outperformed its industry year to date. The stock has gained 15.9% against the industry’s rise of 14% in the said time frame. The positive performance was mainly driven by the company’s solid track record of earnings surprise, having surpassed estimates in each of the trailing four quarters, with average of 6.2%.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Currently, Acuity Brands carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Some better-ranked stocks in the Zacks Construction sector are EMCOR Group, Inc. (NYSE:EME) , AECOM (NYSE:ACM) and MasTec, Inc. (NYSE:MTZ) . While EMCOR sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), both AECOM and MasTec carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

EMCOR, AECOM and MasTec surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average being 14.5%, 6.2% and 11.2%, respectively.

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