Shares of chemical maker, Kronos Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:KRO) touched a fresh 52-week high of $22.51 on Sep 19, before pulling back to eventually close the day at $22.47.
Kronos Worldwide has a market cap of roughly $2.6 billion and average volume of shares traded in the last three months is around 501.6k. The company has expected long-term earnings per share growth of around 5%.
Kronos Worldwide’s shares have moved up 174.4% over a year, outperforming the industry’s gain of 28%.
Driving Factors
Strong second-quarter 2017 results and upbeat outlook have contributed to the rally in Kronos Worldwide’s shares. The company witnessed a significant rise in profits in the second quarter on the back of favorable impacts of improved selling prices, increased sales and production volumes and reduced raw materials and other production costs. It recorded profits of $196.5 million or $1.70 per share in the quarter compared with $1.7 million or a penny per share a year ago.
Net revenues also jumped around 24% year over year to $441.4 million in the second quarter on the back of higher titanium dioxide (TiO2) selling prices and increased sales volumes. TiO2 sales volumes were driven by higher sales in the European and North American markets.
The company saw strong sales volumes during first-half 2017. It is witnessing improved demand for TiO2 products in some of its key markets. Kronos Worldwide also saw higher selling prices during the first half, driven by its successful implementation of price hikes.
Kronos Worldwide also provided an upbeat guidance for 2017. The company, during its second-quarter call, announced that it expects production volumes to be higher in 2017 on a year-over-year basis as production rates this year will be favorably impacted by the implementation of certain productivity-enhancing improvement projects at some facilities.
The company also sees income from operations in 2017 to be higher on a year-over-year basis, mainly due to an expected increase in average selling prices and the favorable impact of anticipated higher production volumes in 2017.
Kronos Worldwide Inc Price and Consensus
Zacks Rank & Other Stocks to Consider
Kronos Worldwide currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).
Some other top-ranked stocks in the chemical space are Koppers Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KOP) , Versum Materials Inc. (NYSE:VSM) and Kraton Corporation (NYSE:KRA) . All three stocks sport a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Koppers Holdings has expected long-term earnings growth of 18%.
Versum Materials has expected long-term earnings growth of 11%.
Kraton has expected earnings growth of 7.2% for the current year.
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Kronos Worldwide Inc (KRO): Free Stock Analysis Report
Koppers Holdings Inc. (KOP): Free Stock Analysis Report
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Versum Materials Inc. (VSM): Free Stock Analysis Report
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