LyondellBasell (LYB) Unveils Preliminary Guidance For Q2

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. (NYSE:LYB) provided a preliminary guidance for second-quarter 2019 financial results.

For the second quarter, the company expects EBITDA to improve roughly 10-20% sequentially to the range of $1,575 million-$1,675 million. Net income is projected between $1,035 million and $1,080 million. Earnings per share (EPS) is forecast to be between $2.79 and $2.91.

The company stated that North American integrated ethylene margins improved during the second quarter courtesy of lower feedstock costs. Moreover, oxyfuels are witnessing typical seasonal upside. However, margins in the refining business continues to be a headwind.

Notably, the company is providing guidance on a one-time basis related to the tender offer for its ordinary shares that started on Jun 10, 2019 and is slated to expire on Jul 8, 2019.

Shares of LyondellBasell have lost around 21.1% in the past year compared with the industry’s 33.9% decline.

LyondellBasell is on track with the construction of a HDPE plant on the U.S. Gulf Coast that will employ its proprietary Hyperzone PE technology. The facility is scheduled for startup in third-quarter 2019 and will have an annual capacity of 1.1 billion pounds.

Moreover, the A. Schulman buyout doubles the size of LyondellBasell's existing compounding business. It has also created a platform for future growth and enabled the company to reach into additional high-growth markets such as packaging and consumer products, electronics and appliances, building and construction as well as agriculture.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

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

Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Materion Corporation (NYSE:MTRN) , Flexible Solutions International Inc (NYSE:FSI) and AngloGold Ashanti Limited (NYSE:AU) . These stocks currently sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Materion has an expected earnings growth rate of 27.3% for 2019. The company’s shares have gained 20.1% in the past year.

Flexible Solutions has a projected earnings growth rate of 342.9% for the current year. The company’s shares have surged 143.2% in a year’s time.

AngloGold has an estimated earnings growth rate of 90.6% for the current year. Its shares have rallied 125.5% in the past year.

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