Shares of chemicals maker Huntsman CorporationHUN scaled a fresh 52-week high of $26.54 yesterday, before pulling back to close the day at $26.33.
Huntsman has a market cap of roughly $6.3 billion and average volume of shares traded in the last three months was around 3,147.1K. The company has an expected long-term EPS growth of 7%.
Huntsman's shares have gained 21.9% over the past three months, outperforming the Zacks categorized Chemicals-Diversified industry's gain of 1.7%.
Driving Factors
Huntsman's adjusted earnings of 57 cents per share for first-quarter 2017 topped the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 38 cents. Revenues of $2.5 billion also beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.4 billion. The first quarter witnessed positive business trends which led to the robust performance.
Huntsman reported adjusted EBITDA of $329 million, up from $274 million in the prior-year period factoring in the sale of the company's European surfactants business in the fourth quarter. The company saw sequential and year over year improvement in sales volumes in most of its business segments.
As a result of the strong first quarter earnings, the company witnessed free cash flow delivery of $82 million which includes $54 million of insurance proceeds, an improvement of $95 million compared to the prior-year quarter. The company now expect to generate over $450 million of free cash flow in 2017.
For the second quarter, Huntsman expects positive trends in the overall volumes along with improved amine unit margins and better North American maleic profitability, partly offset by a moderation in upstream intermediate margins, will help keep EBITDA relatively stable on a sequential comparison basis.
The second quarter being the strongest period for the Textile Effects division, the company anticipates a seasonal increase in volumes as textile customers starts preparing for the winter season where cold weather fashions generally require use of more of chemicals and dyes. Also, the company expects strong demand in the second quarter.
Huntsman Corporation Price and Consensus
Huntsman Corporation Price and Consensus | Huntsman Corporation Quote
Huntsman currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Stocks to Consider
Other top-ranked companies in the chemical space include BASF SE BASFY , The Chemours Company CC and Kronos Worldwide Inc KRO . All the three stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
BASF has expected long-term growth of 8.6%.
Chemours has expected long-term growth of 15.5%.
Kronos has expected long-term growth of 5%.
5 Trades Could Profit "Big-League" from Trump Policies
If the stocks above spark your interest, wait until you look into companies primed to make substantial gains from Washington's changing course.
Today Zacks reveals 5 tickers that could benefit from new trends like streamlined drug approvals, tariffs, lower taxes, higher interest rates, and spending surges in defense and infrastructure. See these buy recommendations now >>
Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report
BASF SE (BASFY): Free Stock Analysis Report
Kronos Worldwide Inc (KRO): Free Stock Analysis Report
Huntsman Corporation (HUN): Free Stock Analysis Report
Chemours Company (The) (CC): Free Stock Analysis Report
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq, Inc.
