Eastman Chemical Company
EMN
announced that it will expand its capacity to produce tertiary amines at its Ghent, Belgium, plant to meet the increasing demand for hand sanitizers, wipes, sprays, liquid dish soap and other household cleaning products.
In the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, Eastman is taking its responsibilities toward customers seriously to enhance cleanliness and safety. It is the world’s leading producer of tertiary amines and hence is making significant investments to cater to this important market.
Eastman has already expanded its capacity at the Pace, Florida unit, making it the largest tertiary amine unit in the world. Further investments are being considered there as well.
Shares of Eastman have rallied 30.9% over a year compared with 11.6% rise of its
industry
.
Eastman’s adjusted earnings and sales in the third quarter beat the respective Zacks Consensus Estimate. It entered the fourth quarter with strong momentum and expects adjusted earnings per share (EPS) for fourth quarter to be similar to fourth-quarter 2019 adjusted EPS of $1.42.
The company is also on track to deliver roughly $150 million of cost savings in 2020 with around $40 million expected in the fourth quarter. Moreover, it expects to generate more than $1 billion of free cash flow this year.
Eastman Chemical Company Price and Consensus
Eastman Chemical Company price-consensus-chart
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Eastman Chemical Company Quote
Zacks Rank and Key Picks
Eastman currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks worth considering in the basic materials space are
Bunge Limited
BG
,
Silvercorp Metals Inc.
SVM
, and
Pretium Resources Inc.
PVG
.
Bunge has a projected earnings growth rate of 43% for the current year. The company’s shares have gained around 11% in a year. It currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here
.
Silvercorp has an expected earnings growth rate of 40% for the current year. The company’s shares have rallied around 24% in the past year. It currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Pretium Resources has an expected earnings growth rate of 25.5% for the current year. The company’s shares have gained around 13% in the past year. It currently carries a Zacks Rank #2.
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