Avon Products Inc (AVP) Stock Price Soars 18% On Report It's Exploring A Sale Of Struggling North American Business

Avon Products Inc. (NYSE:AVP) saw its stock soar 18 percent Tuesday afternoon as the beauty company was said to be exploring strategic alternatives, including a possible sale of its struggling North American business, the Wall Street Journal reported.

The New York-based company announced Monday it postponed its “Investor Day” meeting from May 13 to the fall. The decision follows the recent appointment of James S. Scully as chief financial officer; the postponement will allow the company adequate time to prepare for a more “robust discussion” at the meeting, Avon said in a statement Monday.

“Executives would have been hemmed in if they had gone ahead with a strategy discussion while contemplating strategic moves they weren’t prepared to talk about publicly,” the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.

Avon’s stock price has plummeted more than 45 percent in the last 12 months as the company faces declining revenue. Sales in its North American business tumbled 17 percent in 2014 to $1.2 billion.

The beauty products manufacturer reported a fourth-quarter net loss of $330 million, or a loss of 75 cents per share, compared with a loss of $68 million, or a loss of 16 cents per share, during the same period in 2013. Meanwhile, the company’s fourth-quarter revenue fell 12 percent in the fourth-quarter to $2.3 billion from $2.67 billion a year earlier.

Avon is scheduled to report first-quarter earnings on April 30.

Wall Street expects Avon to report a first-quarter profit of $34.32 million, or earnings per share of 7 cents, on revenue of $1.82 billion, according to analysts polled by Thomson Reuters. That compares with a loss of $168 million, or 12 cents per share, on revenue of $2.18 billion a year ago.

No deal regarding the North American business is imminent, the Wall Street Journal said, according to sources.