DuPont Q1 Profit Rises, Tops View; Lifts FY16 Operating EPS Outlook

(RTTNews) - Chemical giant EI DuPont De Nemours & Co. (DD) or DuPont, which is in deal for an all-stock merger of equals with Dow Chemical Co. (DOW), reported that its net income attributable to the company for the first-quarter rose to $1.23 billion or $1.39 per share from $1.03 billion or $1.13 per share in the same quarter last year.

Operating earnings for the quarter were $1.26 per share compared with $1.26 per share in the prior year. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $1.04 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Quarterly sales totaled $7.4 billion, a decline of 6 percent versus prior year due to negative impacts from currency (4 percent) and volume (2 percent).

DuPont's board of directors approved a second-quarter dividend of $0.38 per share, the 447th consecutive quarterly dividend since the company's first dividend in the fourth quarter of 1904. The second-quarter dividend of $0.38 per share of common stock is payable on June 10, 2016, to stockholders of record at the close of business on May 13, 2016.

The company now expects full-year 2016 operating earnings to be in the range of $3.05 to $3.20 per share, up from prior guidance of $2.95 to $3.10 per share, an increase of 10 to 16 percent over the prior year. Analysts expect annual earnings of $3.03 per share. The estimated negative currency impact for full year 2016 is now expected to be about $0.20 per share, versus a previously communicated estimate of $0.30 per share. The U.S. dollar has weakened against most currencies since the estimate provided on January 26, 2016.

The estimated headwind from a higher base tax rate in 2016 is now expected to be about $0.10 per share. In addition, the company's guidance includes higher corn planted area than previously forecast and a headwind from the impact of Pioneer's transition to an agency-based route-to-market approach in the southern U.S., which will shift some sales from 2016 to the first quarter of 2017.

The company continues to expect a benefit of $0.64 per share from the 2016 global cost savings and restructuring plan. For the first half 2016, the company expects operating earnings to be about flat with the prior year. Seasonal timing benefits realized through March from a stronger-than-expected start in Agriculture are anticipated to be offset in the second quarter.