| Over a week ago | ||||
KeyBanc analyst Aleksey… KeyBanc analyst Aleksey Yefremov raised the firm's price target on Eastman Chemical to $83 from $72 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The analyst believes the company is starting to demonstrate "very impressive" pricing resilience, setting up raw materials-driven margin opportunity in the second half of 2020. | ||||
Wells Fargo analyst… Wells Fargo analyst Michael Sison raised the firm's price target on Eastman Chemical to $64 from $50 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. While the analyst acknowledges that the company is seeing sharp volumes declines prompting a steep down year in earnings during 2020 year-over-year due to the Covid19 pandemic, he believes the negative impact in 2020 is related to volume where its portfolio is better positioned to withstand the sharp drop in oil prices on its commodity chemical exposure which is only about 20% of earnings. Longer term, Sison believes Eastman is well positioned to post a strong earnings recovery when demand normalized potentially in 2021. | ||||
RBC Capital analyst Arun… RBC Capital analyst Arun Viswanathan raised the firm's price target on Eastman Chemical to $60 from $48 but keeps a Sector Perform rating on the shares. The analyst says he was "pleasantly surprised" by the company's Q1 earnings beat, but also notes the management's withdrawal of prior FY20 guidance to "focus on the controllable" while setting cost-reduction targets. Viswanathan adds that he is cautious on the impact of national shutdowns and the potential global economic downturn, cutting his FY20 revenue view to $7.6B from $8.4B and FY21 view to $8.1B from $8.7B. | ||||
Barclays analyst Duffy… Barclays analyst Duffy Fischer lowered the firm's price target on Eastman Chemical to $70 from $81 and keeps an Equal Weight rating on the shares following the company's Q1 results. | ||||
| Over a month ago | ||||
Notable gainers among… Notable gainers among liquid option names this morning include Fortune Brands (FBHS) $51.77 +3.57, Eastman Chemical (EMN) $63.39 +2.88, Clorox (CLX) $195.12 +8.68, Range Resources (RRC) $6.10 +0.27, and Willis Towers Watson (WLTW) $182.79 +4.50. | ||||
Commenting on the outlook… Commenting on the outlook for full-year 2020, Costa said: "In this extraordinarily challenging environment, visibility is severely limited. As a result, we are focused on the things we can control. First, we are substantially increasing our cost reduction targets to be approximately $150 million of net savings, including adjusting our operations to end-market demand, significantly reducing discretionary spend, and deferring some site turnarounds. In addition, we've taken steps to strengthen our cash flow including reducing capital expenditures by approximately $100 million to between $325 and $375 million. We also expect working capital to be a source of more than $250 million of cash flow beyond our previous expectations. Our capital allocation will remain disciplined, including funding our attractive dividend, reducing debt by substantially more than our original target of $400 million, and limiting share repurchases to offset dilution." Due to the heightened level of uncertainty related to the impact of COVID-19, the company is withdrawing its 2020 full-year earnings and cash flow forecast guidance. | |
Reports Q1 revenue… Reports Q1 revenue $2.24B, consensus $2.26B. "We delivered strong year-over-year earnings growth and impressive free cash flow, demonstrating the power of our innovation and the discipline of our operational execution," said Mark Costa, Board Chair and CEO. "However, the impact of the COVID-19 global pandemic has resulted in unprecedented challenges as we move forward. I'm proud of how we have responded by taking actions to keep our employees safe and maintain the operational integrity of our manufacturing facilities. We also moved quickly to generate strong cash flow and ensure we had significant sources of liquidity. We are well-positioned to be resilient through this difficult period and to rebound strongly when global economic growth returns." | |
As part of the… As part of the world's collective effort to respond to the coronavirus pandemic, Eastman is donating materials to produce protective lenses and face shields for medical personnel. Eastman donated 600 square feet of material to Purdue University. More than 40 volunteer faculty and staff members are using the school's laser cutting system to produce up to 3,000 lenses and 4,000 face shields. The protective equipment will be distributed to hospitals across Indiana. Eastman has also donated material to organizations in Tennessee, Virginia, and Brazil for the production of face shields. In Europe, the company has donated resins to customers that are making hand sanitizer instead of cosmetics. | |
JPMorgan analyst Jeffrey… JPMorgan analyst Jeffrey Zekauskas downgraded Celanese (CE) to Neutral from Overweight with a price target of $83, down from $124. Celanese shares outperformed those of Eastman Chemical (EMN) over the past year, and the latter now offers better value, Zekauskas tells investors in a research note. The analyst thinks that there is "much greater room" for price recovery at Eastman than there is a Celanese over a multi-year period. Celanese has meaningful exposure to the transportation and general industrial markets, which are likely to lead to sharp volume contraction in 2020, adds the analyst. Zekauskas this morning also upgraded Eastman Chemical to Overweight. | |
JPMorgan analyst Jeffrey… JPMorgan analyst Jeffrey Zekauskas upgraded Eastman Chemical to Overweight from Neutral with a price target of $68, down from $75. Eastman shares, after dropping 30% over the past year, offer a good entry point for the long-term investor, Zekauskas tells investors in a research note. The analyst does not believe Eastman's long-term business value has been impaired by the economic downturn. Further, the company offers a 4%-5% dividend yield, which the company should be able to sustain, contends Zekauskas. |