Celanese (CE) Declares Completion Of Debottleneck Projects

Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) completed major debottlenecking projects and product transfers at its global manufacturing plants. The move will support project pipeline growth and meet customers demand in company’s engineered materials segment.

According to Celanese, the projects, which were completed over the last 12 months, increased output at each unit by more than 10%.

The debottleneck projects or product transfers of specific polymer production lines were completed by the company at its global engineered materials facilities including GUR UHMW-PE at the Celanese Bishop, TX, and Nanjing, China; Hostaform/Celcon acetal copolymer (POM) at the Celanese Bishop, TX, and Frankfurt, Germany chemical complex; Fortron polyphenylene sulphide (PPS) in Wilmington, NC, at its joint venture facility. The company also expanded a global thermoplastic polyester (PBT) network into Mexico by transferring Celanex grades into its recently acquired Silao facility in Mexico.

Shares of Celanese have moved up 9% in the last three months, outperforming the industry’s 6.3% growth.

Celanese kept its earnings streak alive with a beat in second-quarter 2017. The company logged adjusted earnings of $1.79 per share for the quarter, topping the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.74. Celanese sees adjusted earnings per share to increase 9-11% in 2017.

Celanese’s strategic measures including cost savings through productivity actions and pricing initiatives are expected to lend support to its earnings in 2017. The company is also likely to gain from capacity expansion and growth initiatives like acquisitions. Moreover, Celanese remains focused on returning value to shareholders.

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Celanese currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. (NYSE:APD) , The Chemours Company (NYSE:CC) and FMC Corporation (NYSE:FMC) . All three stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here.

Air Products has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 12.1%.

Chemours has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 15.5%.

FMC has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 11.3%.

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