I have written about the Chemical industry several times recently in this space, the last time being in mid-April. However, it continues to show up very well in the Zacks Rank. As the Zacks Rank is largely based on short-term changes (4 week) in earnings estimates, and by earnings surprises, the continued strength for the industry does represent new information.
Few firms had reported their first quarter results then, and almost all have now. The Diversified Chemical Industry, which I wrote about then, has since been joined by the Specialty Chemical industry near the top of the list.
The strong performance of the Chemical industry is a little bit counter intuitive, in that it is a huge user of Energy, specifically petroleum, and one would expect a margin squeeze from rapidly rising oil prices. It appears that demand is strong enough for Chemicals that the firms have enough clout to pass through the higher energy costs to their customers.
Chemicals go into a wide variety of products, and the strength in this group is a good indication of overall worldwide economic strength. I would note though that many of the integrated oil firms also have large Chemical operations, so strength in there and in Chemicals at the same time is not totally contradictory.
Zacks Industry Classifications
The Zacks industry classifications are very fine, with 256 different industries tracked. It is not particularly noteworthy if a single small industry shows up doing well, a single firm with good news can propel a one or two firm industry to the top (or bottom) of the charts. It is interesting when you see a cluster of similar industries at the top of the list. The same holds true for the bottom of the list. The definition of size that matters here is not the total sales or market capitalization but the number of companies in the “industry.”
Chemicals Getting a Positive Reaction
The Diversified Chemical industry is a large one. It has 32 firms in it, and many of these firms are huge, household names, even if their direct exposure to the customer is sometimes limited. A large number of firms makes it much less likely that the industry will end up o the top (or bottom, for that matter) of the charts. The industry is currently in 18th place, a deterioration of six spots from last week, with an average score of 2.38 up from 2.28.
The Specialty Chemical industry is also larger than average with 26 firms. It is currently in 22nd place, an improvement of 31 spots as the average Zacks rank has tumbled to 2.42 from 2.73.
Those firms tend to be more stable and less cyclical than the Diversified Chemical firms. The output of the Diversified Chemical firms tends to be measured in tons, the output of the specialty firms in pounds. The Diversified Chemical firms are often major suppliers to the Specialty Chemical firms. The specialty chemical firms tend to be smaller than the Diversified Chemical firms.
Strong Buys and Buys
The first table shows the Chemical stocks that hold the enviable Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy). The second table shows the Zacks #2 Ranked (Buy) firms. If the Zacks ranks were random, one would expect that only 5% of the firms in an industry would be “#1s” and 15% would be “#2s.”
That is not the case with these two Chemical industries. Eleven of them (19.0%) have number one ranks, and 22 (37.9%) have number two ranks. There is a wide spectrum of market capitalizations to choose from on the lists ranging from mega-caps like BASF (BASFY) and Dow (DOW), down to the tiny China Carbon (CHGI) and Flexible Solutions (FSI).
This is a worldwide industry, and several of the firms are ADRs. Valuations are for the most part reasonable, particularly if you are willing to look out to 2012 earnings. The estimates on these firms are rising, and an estimate in motion tends to stay in motion, so the true P/E on these firms might be lower than it looks based on current estimates.
Number 1 Ranked Firms
Company | Ticker | Market Cap ($ mil) | P/E Using Curr FY Est | P/E Using Next FY Est | % Change Curr FY Est - 4 wk | % Change Next FY Est - 4 wk | Current Price |
Basf Ag-Adr New | BASFY | $83,003 | 10.12 | 9.23 | 7.59% | 10.30% | $90.37 |
Dow Chemical | DOW | $45,017 | 13.25 | 10.99 | 12.60% | 3.84% | $38.37 |
Sigma Aldrich | SIAL | $8,390 | 18.59 | 16.91 | 4.46% | 4.53% | $68.88 |
Celanese Cp-A | CE | $8,056 | 11.85 | 10.49 | 9.11% | 7.54% | $51.63 |
Huntsman Corp | HUN | $4,607 | 10.85 | 9.22 | 25.42% | 16.57% | $19.14 |
Rhodia Adr | RHAYY | $4,588 | 8.29 | N/A | 13.86% | N/A | $44.25 |
Rockwood Hldgs | ROC | $3,840 | 14.23 | 12.1 | 25.26% | 20.65% | $50.44 |
Kronos Worldwd | KRO | $3,133 | 9.6 | 8 | 28.83% | 17.37% | $54.07 |
Olin Corp | OLN | $1,874 | 12.2 | 10.09 | 12.75% | 9.10% | $23.52 |
Chemtura Corp | CHMT | $1,724 | 19.8 | 12.09 | 14.47% | 15.06% | $18.02 |
Globe Specialty | GSM | $1,574 | 25.53 | 14.45 | 8.37% | 4.83% | $20.93 |
Number 2 Rated Firms
Company | Ticker | Market Cap ($ mil) | P/E Using Curr FY Est | P/E Using Next FY Est | % Change Curr FY Est - 4 wk | % Change Next FY Est - 4 wk | Current Price |
Du Pont (Ei) De | DD | $49,014 | 13.74 | 12.11 | 4.05% | 5.09% | $52.91 |
Air Liquide-Adr | AIQUY | $37,930 | 16.68 | 14.87 | 2.89% | 3.46% | $26.69 |
Praxair Inc | PX | $31,225 | 18.86 | 16.5 | 0.65% | 1.39% | $102.85 |
Lyondellbasel-A | LYB | $22,539 | 9.35 | 8.6 | 34.64% | 31.82% | $39.68 |
Air Prods & Che | APD | $19,485 | 15.81 | 14.07 | 1.12% | 2.09% | $90.66 |
Akzo Nobel Nv | AKZOY | $17,043 | 13.32 | 10.98 | 10.26% | 15.15% | $72.99 |
Ppg Inds Inc | PPG | $14,242 | 13.55 | 12.36 | 2.84% | 3.77% | $88.47 |
Ecolab Inc | ECL | $12,082 | 20.71 | 18.12 | 0.93% | 0.84% | $52.07 |
Eastman Chem Co | EMN | $7,428 | 11.55 | 10.56 | 12.13% | 12.21% | $104.55 |
Albemarle Corp | ALB | $6,255 | 15.71 | 13.54 | 7.42% | 11.10% | $68.26 |
Grace (Wr) New | GRA | $3,218 | 13.16 | 12.57 | 12.70% | 16.67% | $44.00 |
Methanex Corp | MEOH | $2,810 | 13.01 | 9.17 | 6.46% | 9.05% | $30.31 |
Cytec Inds Inc | CYT | $2,728 | 16.16 | 13.57 | 1.84% | 3.83% | $55.17 |
Newmarket Corp | NEU | $2,423 | 12.35 | 11.52 | 5.14% | 8.25% | $174.77 |
Sensient Tech | SXT | $1,880 | 15.95 | 14.53 | 1.40% | 1.27% | $37.60 |
Georgia Gulf | GGC | $1,004 | 13.22 | 9.08 | 2.19% | 26.61% | $29.55 |
Innophos Hldgs | IPHS | $953 | 11.26 | 10.5 | 1.63% | 2.26% | $44.36 |
Tpc Group Inc | TPCG | $632 | 17.48 | 11.7 | 0.00% | 6.74% | $38.90 |
Quaker Chemical | KWR | $454 | 11.55 | 10.53 | 7.90% | 3.60% | $39.45 |
Omnova Solution | OMN | $395 | 12.04 | 8.84 | 0.00% | 0.00% | $8.73 |
Flexible Soltns | FSI | $29 | 34.17 | 18.64 | 20.00% | N/A | $2.05 |
China Carbon Gr | CHGI | $24 | 4.8 | N/A | 78.57% | N/A | $1.20 |
In evaluating the Zacks Industry Ranks, you want to see two things: a good overall score (low, meaning more Zacks #1 and #2 Ranked stocks than #4 or #5 Ranked stocks) and some improvement the relative position from the prior week. It is also helpful to understand exactly what the Zacks Industry Rank is.
The Zacks Industry Rank is the un-weighted average of the individual Zacks ranks of the firms in that industry. It does not matter if the stock is the 800 lb gorilla that dominates the industry or some very small niche player in the industry -- they have the same influence on the industry rank.
Also, that means that the bigger the industry in terms of number of firms, the less influence any given company has on the industry rank. It also implies that small industries, with just two or three firms, should be the ones found at either the top or the bottom of the list. After all, if there are only two firms in the industry, it is relatively easy to get a Zacks rank of 2.00 (i.e. one with a Zacks Rank of #1 and the other with a #3). Right now, that industry rank would be tied for 6th place among the 255 industries tracked.
The same obviously goes for the bottom of the list as well. If there are 50 firms in the industry, and it ends up at one of the extremes, that means there has to be something pretty significant going on. Thus, I do not always focus on the very highest rated industries, but on the highest rated ones in which there are a large number of firms.
Click here for the Zacks Industry Rank List: http://www.zacks.com/zrank/zrank_inds.php
BASF AG-ADR NEW (BASFY): Free Stock Analysis Report
DU PONT (EI) DE (DD): Free Stock Analysis Report
DOW CHEMICAL (DOW): Free Stock Analysis Report
Zacks Investment Research
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