In times when market momentum is very obviously directionally downward, certain stocks inevitably stick out as better insulated to the sell-off. With the S&P shedding more than 5% over the past week, DE has held firm around the $80 level
HB Fuller is taking a beating this morning after a serious earnings miss. This was a company we were not paying much attention to given relatively fair value and its only interesting screen was a high level of skepticism, suggesting
Today, Lyondell announced that it is studying yet another ethylene expansion in the US and that once complete by the end of 2017 the company will have added as much as 2.4 billion pounds of capacity through plant expansions over
With Trian Capital’s letter to DuPont yesterday we formally open a debate that has been expected for some time – whether DuPont can create more shareholder value in pieces than it can as a whole. At the 64,000 foot level
Oversupply in the oil markets has driven pricing lower over recent weeks with Brent hitting lows not seen in many months, and breaking below previous resistance levels. Oil is the big risk for the recovering US energy and chemicals sector
Industrial Gases generally and Praxair specifically are being left behind by the manufacturing related rally that has boosted values for many industrial and material names over the last two years. Arguably, both Praxair and Airgas, through their extensive US packaged
“We have a history of, if we can’t fix something in 18 to 24 months, we usually do something else with it. And we don’t fall in love with anything that isn’t earning its cost of capital.” – Stanley Black
Lyondell reported very strong earnings this morning, beating consensus estimates by more than 10%. The strength of their US olefins and polyolefins business was notable, given that the company has experienced a meaningful delay in restarting its La Porte (Tx)
Dow Chemical managed to show growth in Q2 2014 despite a couple of headwinds, some of which were discussed and some were not. Weaker crop markets and plant closures were discussed but the company also raised a second issue that
Aluminum pricing has continued on the upward trend begun in late 2013 and frankly has moved further than we had anticipated. While we are quite bullish on the space and have written positively in both the metal and Alcoa, we
