Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
Thank you. [Operator Instructions]. Our first question is from Chris Growe you may ask your question and please state your company name.
Christopher Growe - A. G. Edwards & Sons, Inc.
It's A. G. Edwards. Good morning.
L.M. (Theo) de Kool - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial and Administrative Officer
Good morning Chris.
Aaron Hoffmann - Vice President, Investor Relations
Good morning.
Christopher Growe - A. G. Edwards & Sons, Inc.
Hi guys. I just had two questions for you. The first one is relative to the operating margin for '07 and also looking ahead to '08, you had a guidance range of like 7% to 7.3% for '07, is at the lower end of that range for the year. Was there something incremental in the fourth quarter? If yes, we know the input cost to marketing, does that work against that margin? Was... is that sort of as expected?
L.M. (Theo) de Kool - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial and Administrative Officer
Yes, there are couple of elements, Chris. The first one is indeed that we have some happenings from commodities that didn't help. And secondly our sales for the year went a little higher than we expected which was partly in an area where we didn't make a lot of profit. So that occurred that as a percentage. Overall I think we are on track to fulfill our 7.6% to 8% margin for '08.
Christopher Growe - A. G. Edwards & Sons, Inc.
Okay. And then relative to that figure, is there a certain level of cost saves that we know are coming through? I am not sure of the figure, if there is one but is there... give an estimate for cost savings coming through from the transformation?
L.M. (Theo) de Kool - Executive Vice President and Chief Financial and Administrative Officer
No, we have not disclosed that but we will disclose some numbers during Meet the Management in September.
Brenda C. Barnes - Chairman and Chief Executive Officer
We clearly have an identified number that is baked into our plan. So we know what's in there and we'll be able to share that with you.
Christopher Growe - A. G. Edwards & Sons, Inc.
Okay. And then just relative to... I guess the same point, the gross margin was down about 100 basis points I think roughly in the quarter making some adjustments to get there. But was that in line with your expectation? And I was surprised by that relative to the cost... I am sorry the price realization that you achieved in the quarter?
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