Celanese Restarts Operations At Clear Lake Methanol Unit

Celanese Corporation (NYSE:CE) announced that is progressing with the restart of on-site production units at its Clear Lake facility in Pasadena, TX. On Sep 21 2019, a localized fire broke out in the carbon monoxide production unit of the facility.

Per the company, operations at the Fairway Methanol unit has restarted and approaching full operating rates. Moreover, the acetic acid and vinyl acetate monomer units are scheduled for restart in October. The company expects all production units at Clear Lake to return to full capacity within the fourth quarter. However, shipping operations and associated terminals of the facility are operating without disruption.

Celanese is evaluating the potential impact of the incident on available product volumes. The company will provide further updates on the status and financial impact in third-quarter 2019.

Celanese’s shares have gained 7.8% in the past year compared with the industry’s 0.9% rise.

In July, the company backed its adjusted earnings per share guidance of around $10.50 for 2019, considering that underlying fundamentals will improve later this year.

The company will also focus on strengthening its businesses by executing productivity programs and strategically investing in high-return organic projects. Celanese is on track to commercialize more than 4,000 projects in 2019.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

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

Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Kinross Gold Corporation (NYSE:KGC) , Agnico Eagle Mines Limited (NYSE:AEM) and Arconic Inc (NYSE:ARNC) , all sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Kinross has an expected earnings growth rate of 160% for 2019. The company’s shares have surged 63.7% in the past year.

Agnico Eagle has projected earnings growth rate of 157.1% for the current year. The company’s shares have rallied 49.6% in a year’s time.

Arconic has an estimated earnings growth rate of 50% for the current year. Its shares have moved up 17.2% in the past year.

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