On this page of StockholderLetter.com we present the latest annual shareholder letter from STANLEY BLACK & DECKER, INC. — ticker symbol SWK. Reading current and past SWK letters to shareholders can bring important insights into the investment thesis.

 •  3/7/2025 Letter Continued (Full PDF)
 •  3/10/2023 SWK Stockholder Letter
 •  3/8/2024 SWK Stockholder Letter
 •  More "Industrial Machinery & Equipment" Category Stockholder Letters
 •  SWK Benford's Law Stock Score = 90

SWK Shareholder/Stockholder Letter Transcript:

2024 ANNUAL REPORT
Built for
Growth
2024 ANNUAL REPORT
1


Through end-user
inspired innovation and
operational excellence,
our people deliver high
quality solutions for the
builders: the trades Pros,
the talented DIYers and
everybody making
our world.

Two and a half years into our journey, we have made
meaningful progress, and our accomplishments pave the
way for the final phases of our transformation. We have:
    Activated our growth culture and made approximately
$250 million of targeted growth investment against
a multi-year goal to invest $300 to $500 million.
    Leveraged the supply chain transformation to help stabilize
operations while delivering improved customer order
fill rates with greater cost efficiency.
    Revitalized our leadership team with over half of our top
70 leaders in new roles, providing the organization with
fresh perspectives and renewed energy.
    Simplified the portfolio with over $2.6 billion of revenue
divested1 to focus on our core strengths of Tools & Outdoor
and Engineered Fastening.
DONALD ALLAN, JR.
President &
Chief Executive Officer
Dear
Shareholders
When we embarked on our bold
transformation in the middle of 2022, our
belief was that by simplifying the portfolio,
focusing on our key strengths   iconic
brands, powerful innovation, and passionate
and dedicated people   and making targeted
investments to improve our supply chain
and market activation capabilities, we would
bring forth the full power of our Company.
This vision helped drive our organization to
deepen our end-user connections, get closer
to our customers, and enhance our brands
and the innovation that fuels them.
As we prepare to bring our transformation to a close in
2025, we can confirm that these efforts have put Stanley
Black & Decker on a path towards sustainable growth,
profitability and cash flow improvement, and to deliver
long-term shareholder returns.
We are proud of our achievements but know that our work
does not end once our transformation is complete. We will
continue on our larger journey by accelerating our growth
culture to deliver sustainable market share gains with
operational excellence at our core. These elements set the
stage for us to restore our adjusted gross margin2 to 35%+
levels, invest in incremental growth opportunities to drive
market share gain and generate the capital to strengthen
our balance sheet.
1
2
STANLEY BLACK & DECKER
2019 Revenue Basis

2024: Continued Strong Progress
Our strong execution in 2024 was the result of alignment and
focus throughout the organization, and the performance of
our teams across the Company helped us meet or exceed our
goals. We overcame a soft consumer and DIY environment to
deliver full year revenues of $15.4 billion, which was flat on an
organic basis.2 Our iconic and professionally-focused DEWALT
brand delivered mid single digit revenue growth, outpacing
the professional tool market. In addition, our aerospace
fastening business achieved 22% revenue growth, as we
capitalized on the market recovery of new aircraft builds.
We are encouraged by these results, particularly the seven
consecutive quarters of revenue growth, and share gain
in DEWALT. We believe these results demonstrate that our
targeted investments and strategic focus are translating
into positive topline momentum.
As we continued our transformation journey throughout 2024,
we are proud to have delivered on key financial milestones,
especially achieving adjusted gross margin3 greater than
31% in the fourth quarter and 30% for the full year. For the full
year, adjusted gross margin rate2 expanded 400 basis points,
primarily driven by our reshaped supply chain and ongoing
strategic initiatives.
Our expanded gross margins are generating the resources
to support incremental investments to increase market share
and growth. Since the second half of 2022, we have invested
approximately $250 million on a run-rate basis, on track with
our initial vision to redeploy $300   $500 million into growth
investments by the end of 2025.
This progress, inclusive of gross margin expansion net
of growth investments, translated into a full year adjusted
EBITDA2 of approximately $1.6 billion. The adjusted EBITDA2
margin rate was 10.1%, an expansion of 290 basis points
year over year.
2024 SUMMARY OF RESULTS
$15.4B
$1.1B
Total Revenues
Cash from
Operating Activities
29.4%
Gross Margin Rate
+ 450 Bps VPY
$753M
Free Cash Flow2
30.0%
$1.1B
Adjusted Gross
Margin Rate2
+ 400 Bps VPY
Total Debt
Reduction
$286M
1.9%
Net Earnings
Net Earnings % of Sales
$1.6B
10.1%
2
Adjusted EBITDA
Adjusted EBITDA %
of Sales2
STRATEGIC TRANSFORMATION
Program-to-Date (Since Mid-2022)
>$2.0B
$1.5B
Inventory Reduction
Pre-Tax Run-Rate
Cost Savings
Earnings growth and working capital efficiency improvements
both contributed to free cash flow2 of approximately
$750 million. Strong cash generation along with proceeds
from the Infrastructure business divestiture supported
$1.1 billion of debt reduction in 2024. This debt paydown
combined with EBITDA2 improvement moved us materially
forward toward achieving our leverage targets.
2
Non-GAAP financial measure. Refer to page 11 for additional information.
3
Non-GAAP financial measure. Adjusted Gross Margin excludes certain pre-tax gains and charges. GAAP Gross Profit
was $1,144.1 million, or 30.8% of net sales, for the fourth quarter of 2024. Refer to page 11 for additional information.
2024 ANNUAL REPORT
3



 3/7/2025 Letter Continued (Full PDF)