The Bapcor Ltd (ASX: BAP) share price is having a day to forget on Tuesday.
In afternoon trade, the ASX 200 stock has crashed 10% to $5.98.
Why is this ASX 200 stock crashing?
Investors have been heading to the exits today after the company released an update at its annual general meeting.
At the event, Bapcor's managing director and CEO, Noel Meehan, revealed that the company has not been "immune from shorter-term macroeconomic headwinds facing many organisations."
Meehan advised that these headwinds have "so far led to a more moderate growth profile in our Trade and Wholesale markets, and a further deterioration in the Retail sector."
Unfortunately, this has seen Bapcor's "overall year-to-date revenue growth slowing down to a low-single digit percentage rate, compared with last year."
What about earnings?
While the ASX 200 stock's top-line growth may have underwhelmed, its bottom-line performance appears to be what has spooked investors the most.
Management advised that short-term margin pressures from cost inflation and other external factors mean that year-to-date pro-forma net profit after at the end of September is behind expectations.
It estimates that the shortfall to its plans is "in the mid-single digit millions of dollars."
Nevertheless, Meehan remains optimistic that Bapcor's performance can improve. He concludes:
While this is not the start into FY24 we were targeting, and we are behind where we would have liked to be, improvement plans are being executed. Notwithstanding a more challenging trading environment, we expect a solid underlying performance in FY24, subject to market conditions, and for Better than Before to deliver the targeted FY24 goals.
