Dow Chemical Q3 Profit Up, Adj. Earnings Miss Estimates

(RTTNews) - Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) Thursday reported a higher third-quarter profit, as sales increased mainly driven by Agricultural Sciences segment. Adjusted earnings, as well as revenues missed analysts' estimates on sales and volume decline in Performance Materials.

The company noted that sales rose in most geographic areas, with a 5 percent increase reported in emerging geographies, driven by Latin America.

The manufacturer of chemical products for use as raw materials, said its third quarter net income available for common stockholders increased to $594 million or $0.49 per share from $497 million or $0.42 per share in the previous year.

On an adjusted basis, excluding restructuring plan implementation costs, earnings for the recent quarter were $0.50 per share. On average, 17 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.54 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net sales for the quarter edged up 1 percent to $13.73 billion from $13.64 billion in the prior year quarter. Thirteen analysts had consensus revenue estimate of $14 billion for the quarter. Sales rose 2 percent on an adjusted basis.

The company said increase in sales was driven by 8 percent growth in Agricultural Sciences, and 6 percent rise in Coatings and Infrastructure Solutions, and Performance Plastics, each.

Electronic and Functional Materials sales improved 5 percent, while sales in Performance Materials were down 3 percent from last year.

Meanwhile, volume declined 2 percent, and the decrease was 1 percent excluding the impact of divestitures. Price increased 3 percent, mainly driven by Performance Plastics and Agricultural Sciences.

Andrew Liveris, chairman and chief executive officer of the company stated, "Through our integrated value chains and the diversity of our targeted end markets, we continue to demonstrate strong performance - particularly in emerging geographies, in our equity earnings, and in key downstream businesses such as Electronics, Coatings and Infrastructure, and Packaging."

DOW closed Wednesday's regular trading at $41.04 on the NYSE. In the pre-market activity on Thursday, the shares are down 3.27 percent.