PolyOne (POL) Scoops Up Rutland Holding, Expands Portfolio

Chemical company, PolyOne (NYSE:POL) has purchased Pineville, NC-based specialty inks maker, Rutland Holding Company. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Rutland, which specializes in customized formulations for consumer applications, is a leading manufacturer of screen printing inks for the apparel market. The entity offers a broad range of specialty screen printing inks and has global manufacturing footprint and customer reach.

The acquisition expands PolyOne’s portfolio of specialty color, additives and inks solutions. PolyOne plans to continue to market Rutland’s brands including Rutland, Printop, QCM and Union Ink as well as its own Wilflex products, based on customer specification and preference.

PolyOne sees the Rutland acquisition to be immediately accretive to its earnings. It plans to discuss the transaction in details in its second-quarter 2017 earnings call.

PolyOne has outperformed the Zacks categorized Chemicals-Plastics industry over the past six months. The company’s shares have gained around 12.6% over this period, compared with roughly 6.1% decline recorded by the industry.

PolyOne is gaining from its recent acquisitions which are contributing to its top line growth. Its sales rose 6% year over year to nearly $900 million in the first quarter with acquisitions contributing 2% to the top line. Sales from its Color, Additives and Inks unit went up 3% in the quarter.

PolyOne had around $158 million in cash and total available liquidity of more than $550 million at the end of the first quarter, which is available for organic investment initiatives and bolt-on specialty acquisitions.

PolyOne currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

Other Stocks to Consider

Other well-placed companies in the chemicals space include Huntsman Corporation (NYSE:HUN) , Kronos Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:KRO) and The Chemours Company (NYSE:CC) , all sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Huntsman has an expected long-term earnings growth of 7%.

Kronos has an expected long-term earnings growth of 5%.

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

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