Celanese (NYSE:CE) Issues Q4 Earnings Guidance

Celanese (NYSE:CE) issued an update on its fourth quarter earnings guidance on Monday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of $1.25 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $2.93. Celanese also updated its Q4 2024 guidance to 1.250-1.250 EPS.

Celanese Trading Down 24.9 %

Celanese stock traded down $30.79 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $92.71. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 5,008,360 shares, compared to its average volume of 794,668. The stock has a market capitalization of $10.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 5.39, a P/E/G ratio of 0.72 and a beta of 1.31. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $129.58 and its 200 day moving average is $138.25. Celanese has a 1-year low of $91.83 and a 1-year high of $172.16. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.45, a quick ratio of 0.74 and a current ratio of 1.28.

Celanese (NYSE:CE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 4th. The basic materials company reported $2.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.85 by ($0.41). Celanese had a net margin of 18.24% and a return on equity of 13.60%. The firm had revenue of $2.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $2.50 EPS. Celanese’s revenue was down 2.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Celanese will post 10.24 EPS for the current year.

Celanese Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, November 13th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, October 30th will be given a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, October 30th. Celanese’s payout ratio is 15.94%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on CE shares. Barclays cut their price objective on Celanese from $170.00 to $151.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, August 6th. Piper Sandler cut Celanese from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $180.00 to $150.00 in a research note on Thursday, September 5th. UBS Group dropped their price target on Celanese from $193.00 to $184.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Robert W. Baird dropped their price target on Celanese from $180.00 to $150.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, August 5th. Finally, Vertical Research cut Celanese from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating and set a $130.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday, October 29th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Celanese presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $148.31.

Insider Transactions at Celanese

In other news, COO Scott A. Richardson sold 4,675 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $129.51, for a total transaction of $605,459.25. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer now directly owns 69,754 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,033,840.54. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.40% of the company’s stock.

About Celanese

Celanese Corporation, a chemical and specialty materials company, manufactures and sells high performance engineered polymers in the United States and internationally. It operates through Engineered Materials and Acetyl Chain. The Engineered Materials segment develops, produces, and supplies specialty polymers for automotive and medical applications, as well as for use in industrial products and consumer electronics.