Constellation Brands Inc. (NYSE: STZ) reported second-quarter fiscal 2015 results before markets opened Thursday. The wine, beer and beverage company reported adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $1.11 on net sales of $1.61 billion. In the same period a year ago, the company reported diluted EPS of $0.96 on revenue of $1.46 billion. Second-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $1.15 and $1.64 billion in revenue.

Constellation affirmed its prior forecast calling for adjusted EPS for its 2015 fiscal year in a range of $4.10 to $4.25, a sharp increase from 2014 EPS of $3.25.

The company said that operating income rose due to a realized incremental benefit of $22 million due to the timing of its acquisition of Crown Imports and “excellent volume growth for the base beer business.” Adjusted EPS did not include one-time items of $39 million, which included a recall of its Corona brand beer due to defective bottles. In the second quarter of last year, Constellation also recognized a non-cash gain of $1.6 billion on a remeasurement of the fair value of the company’s original 50% interest in Crown, resulting in GAAP EPS of $7.74

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Constellation’s CEO said:

[O]ur results … reflect another quarter of excellent performance from our beer business. This was driven by the outstanding efforts of our wholesalers, retailers and employees in executing our plans in the marketplace during the key summer selling season as we achieved eight percent depletion growth during the quarter. … While we expect to see some shift in beer sales from the second quarter into the third quarter as a result of the recall, we remain on track to achieve our comparable basis EPS goal for fiscal 2015.

Sales in the company’s wine and spirits segment rose 3% year-over-year, and operating income in the segment rose 4%. Beer segment sales rose 9% year-over-year and operating income rose 20%.

The miss on both profit and revenue estimates sent shares tumbling more than 7% early Thursday morning. That drop has since been cut by more than half, and by the closing bell it may be completely made up and more.

In premarket trading Thursday, shares were down about 3% to $82.76, in a 52-week range of $57.09 to $94.77. Prior to this report, Thomson Reuters had a target price of $97.50 on the company’s shares.

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