Kronos Worldwide's (KRO) Shares Rise 30% YTD: Here's Why

Shares of Kronos Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:KRO) have gained around 29.6% so far this year. The company has also significantly outperformed its industry’s decline of roughly 18.1% over the same time frame. The company has also outpaced the S&P 500’s rise of 18.7% year to date.

Kronos Worldwide, a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock, has a market cap of roughly $1.7 billion. Average volume of shares traded in the last three months was around 246.4K. The company has an expected long-term earnings per share growth rate of 15.7%.

Let’s take a look into the factors that are driving this leading producer of titanium dioxide (TiO2) pigments.

Driving Factors

Kronos Worldwide is benefiting from higher demand for TiO2. The company is seeing strong demand for its TiO2 products across most segments, which is expected to continue through 2019. Demand for TiO2 has been growing on the back of strong consumptions across Western Europe and North America. Moreover, markets for TiO2 are rising in South America, Eastern Europe, the Asia Pacific region and China and the company sees continued growth across these regions.

Kronos Worldwide also expects its sales volumes for 2019 to be higher year over year based on expected production levels and assuming current global economic conditions to remain stable. The company also expects its sales to be higher year over year in 2019, mainly due to higher expected sales volumes.

The company also remains focused on returning value to shareholders. Earlier this year, Kronos Worldwide raised its quarterly dividend by a penny per share to 18 cents per share. It paid dividend worth $20.9 million to its shareholders during the first three months of 2019.

Earnings estimates for Kronos Worldwide are also going up over the past three months. Over this period, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2019 has increased by around 9.9%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings for second-quarter 2019 has also moved up 11.4% over the same timeframe.

Stocks Worth a Look

Better-ranked stocks worth considering in the basic materials space include Materion Corporation (NYSE:MTRN) , Flexible Solutions International Inc (NYSE:FSI) and Israel Chemicals Ltd. (NYSE:ICL) .

Materion has an expected earnings growth rate of 30.3% for the current year and carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The company’s shares have gained around 17% over the past year. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Flexible Solutions has an expected earnings growth rate of 342.9% for the current fiscal year and carries a Zacks Rank #1. Its shares have surged around 163% in the past year.

Israel Chemicals has an expected earnings growth rate of 13.5% for the current year and carries a Zacks Rank #1. Its shares are up roughly 12% in the past year.

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