During the quarter, Dow Chemical managed to post solid results despite significant challenges.
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Dow Chemical Co DOW.N , the No.1 USA chemical maker by sales, reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit as cost cuts helped boost margins.
Revenue for the Midland, Michigan-based company slipped to $11.95 billion from $12.91 billion, but still beat the $11.27 billion in revenue that analysts polled by Zacks expected.
Dow’s net income attributable to shareholders almost tripled to $3.12 billion, or $2.61 per share, in the quarter ended June 30.
Operating earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization rose to $2.5 billion, which the company called a record.
Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains, came to 95 cents per share.
According to an analyst poll compiled by Bloomberg, of the 24 analysts that cover Dow Chemical, 11 advocate a Buy, 12 recommend a Hold, while one analyst recommends a sell. It is a slight increase from last year’s second quarter, when earnings per share stood at 97 cents, or 91 cents on an operating basis. The company said this was due to overall gains in several business divisions that offset lower equity earnings related to the Kuwait joint venture and Sadara start-up costs. Of that, the company realized $90 million in the second quarter ended June 30. The company has also reported 2 percent volume growth, with percentages rising in conjunction with higher demands across the globe for Dow products.
The company has said it plans to slash costs by $300 million this year.
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Dow Chemical, which divested its Chlorine Products business in a merger with Olin (OLN) in a deal valued at about $5 billion, said sales volume grew 2% on a reported basis, but was up 4% excluding the impact of divestitures and acquisitions.
