Fortune Brands Inc. (FO) reported third quarter earnings of 82 cents per share. Although earnings were well above the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 63 cents, they were down 59.8% year-over-year. Net sales for the quarter declined 10.6% year-over-year to $1.72 billion, primarily due to flat sales for the company’s spirits business and comparatively moderate revenue declines in the golf and home products brands. The Spirits segment revenues were flat during the quarter, as higher sales of Jim Beam bourbon and Canadian Club whisky, the Cruzan acquisition and strong growth in emerging markets was almost fully offset by soft results in other international markets. In addition, a benefit from the company’s route-to-market initiatives was largely offset by unfavorable foreign exchange. There are signs that the U.S. housing downturn is decelerating, which coupled with the company’s share-gain initiatives across all product categories helped moderate the sales decline ...