Eastman Chemical Restores Operations At Kingsport Plant - Analyst Blog

Chemical maker Eastman Chemical Company EMN announced that it has resumed operations at its site in Kingsport, TN, following an unplanned shutdown on Jun 4. The company experienced an extensive power disruption that resulted in an unplanned shutdown at the plant.

The shutdown is anticipated to adversely affect Eastman Chemical's earnings between 5 cents and 10 cents per share. However, the company maintains its forecast for full-year 2014 earnings in the range of $6.70—$7.00 per share, excluding non-core and non-recurring items.

Eastman Chemical released first-quarter 2014 results in April and announced that it expects higher sales in the remaining three quarters of 2014. The company expects to gain from the specific actions it has taken up to increase earnings and also through the balanced deployment of its strong cash flow.

The company's profit slipped in the first quarter as modest gains across its Additives and Functional Products, and Fibers divisions were offset by declines in Advanced Materials, and Specialty Fluids and Intermediates units. Higher impairment and restructuring charges also weighed on the bottom line in the reported quarter.

The company logged profit (as reported) of $233 million or $1.52 per share in the quarter, a 5.7% fall from $247 million or $1.57 per share recorded a year ago.

Earnings, excluding integration charges related to Solutia acquisition and impairment and restructuring costs, were $1.61 per share in the reported quarter, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate by a penny but lower than the year-ago adjusted earnings of $1.62 per share.

Revenues dropped roughly 0.1% year over year to $2,305 million, missing the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2,403 million. The company saw tepid sales performances across the board in the quarter.  

Eastman Chemical, a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) stock, recently acquired BP Plc's BP aviation turbine engine oil business.

Some other stocks worth considering in the chemical space include Compass Minerals International Inc. CMP and Koninklijke DSM N.V. (RDSMY). While Compass Minerals sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Koninklijke DSM has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

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