Valued at a market cap of $14.4 billion, Celanese Corporation (CE) is a chemical and specialty materials company that manufactures and sells high-performance engineered polymers. The Irving, Texas-based company also produces acetyl products for most major industries.
Shares of this chemical manufacturer have underperformed the broader market over the past 52 weeks. CE has gained 11.2% over this time frame, while the broader S&P 500 Index ($SPX) has rallied 27.5%. In 2024, shares of CE are down 15.4%, compared to SPX’s 17.8% gain on a YTD basis.
Zooming in further, CE has outpaced the Materials Alphadex ETF FT’s (FXZ) 1.8% gain over the past 52 weeks but has lagged behind FXZ’s 4.7% decline on a YTD basis.
Shares of CE fell 4.4% following its Q2 earnings release on Aug. 1 due to revenues and earnings missing estimates. The weaker-than-expected performance was primarily driven by a decrease in pricing, multiple supplier outages, curtailments, and a 7.4% year-over-year decline in Engineered Materials unit sales. The company’s sluggish growth outlook for the year due to ongoing demand issues further reduced investor confidence.
For the current fiscal year, ending in December, analysts expect CE’s EPS to grow 17.7% year over year to $10.50.The company’s earnings surprise history is mixed. It beat the consensus estimates in two of the last four quarters while missing on other two occasions.
Among the 17 analysts covering the stock, the consensus rating is a “Moderate Buy.” That’s based on five “Strong Buy” ratings, one “Moderate Buy,” 10 “Holds,” and one “Moderate Sell.”
Overall, the configuration has remained fairly steady over the past months.
On Aug. 7, BMO Capital Markets maintained a “Market Perform” rating on Celanese Corporation and lowered the price target to $138, noting concerns over a difficult macroeconomic environment and operational challenges, including supplier issues being faced by the company.
The mean price target of $151.21 represents a premium of nearly 15% to CE’s current levels. The Street-high price target of $180, implies a notable potential upside of 36.9% from the current price.
On the date of publication, Sohini Mondal did not have (either directly or indirectly) positions in any of the securities mentioned in this article. All information and data in this article is solely for informational purposes. For more information please view the Barchart Disclosure Policy here.
