PPG Industries Inc.
PPG
recently announced that it expects adjusted earnings per share (EPS) for the third quarter of 2020 between $1.90 and $1.94, up from adjusted EPS of $1.67 recorded in third-quarter 2019. Additionally, the company said that it now expects sales volumes for the third quarter to be down around 5% year over year, below the bottom-end of its earlier communicated guidance range of down 6-11%.
Per the company, the third-quarter results reflect strong year-over-year sales volume growth in global architectural coatings businesses. Also, improving demand in several end-use markets led to higher sales volumes along with aggressive cost-management actions that led to better-than-expected third-quarter 2020 financial results.
The company also expects to achieve high-teen percentage operating margins in both its reporting segments in the third quarter. It is witnessing strong performance in aggregated global architectural coatings and packaging coatings businesses along with strengthening demand in general industrial coatings and automotive original equipment manufacturer. Per the company, these businesses represent around 70% of its business portfolio. Demand trends in the company’s other businesses are mixed due to impacts from the coronavirus pandemic.
Shares of the company have gained 15.9% in the past year compared with 9.7% growth of the
industry
.
Zacks Rank & Key Picks
PPG Industries currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Brenntag AG
BNTGY
, Comstock Mining, Inc.
LODE
and Yamana Gold Inc.
AUY
, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see
the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank stocks here
.
Brenntag has an expected earnings growth rate of 2.9% for 2020. The company’s shares have surged 34.3% in the past year.
Comstock Mining has an expected earnings growth rate of 370% for 2020. Its shares have returned 128.5% in the past year.
Yamana has an expected earnings growth rate of 84.6% for 2020. The company’s shares have gained 88.1% in the past year.
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