UPDATE: Morgan Stanley Maintains Rating On Celanese Corp. As Methanol JV Announcements Meet Expectations

In a report published by Morgan Stanley Wednesday, they maintained their stock-rating on Celanese Corp.

of equal-weight. In the report, analyst Vincent Andrews noted, "Celanese's announcement of the formation of a new methanol JV is in line with our expectations, as outlined in our 2012 initiation. Nonetheless, given the methanol JV is to replace lost volumes from the expiring SCC contract in 2015, Celanese will be recognizing a cash outflow of $300M with no incremental run-rate earnings. We estimate Celanese's existing below market contract (expiring in 2015) adds $159M in EBITDA per year, and its new methanol plant start-up will add $144M in EBITDA per year (assuming $4 gas)." Celanese Corp. closed Tuesday at $48.41 and is currently trading up at .64% since market open hours.