Midland, MI, Oct. 23-- Dow Chemical Co. reported Thursday that its third-quarter earnings more than doubled from a year earlier, easily topping Wall Street forecasts.
Continued cost-cutting efforts and productivity improvements offset higher raw materials and energy costs, the Midland, Michigan-based chemical manufacturer said
For the three months ended Sept. 30, Dow earned $332 million, or 36 cents a share, compared with $128 million, or 14 cents a share, in the same period of 2002.
A consensus of analysts surveyed by Thomson First Call forecast earnings of 25 cents per share.
Sales totaled $7.98 billion for the quarter, up from $7.08 billion last year.
"Dow had a substantial improvement in third quarter results, in spite of a greater than 20 percent increase in feedstock and energy costs compared with the third quarter of last year," said J. Pedro Reinhard, executive vice president and chief financial officer. "Volume growth was broad-based across geographies and businesses, and when coupled with price improvements and a continued focus on significant cost reductions, the result was markedly better earnings and cash flow."
In January, Dow announced plans to cut between 3,000 and 4,000 jobs, many through attrition or as part of trades or sales of holdings. The company had 50,000 employees at the end of 2002.
For the first nine months of the year, Dow reported earnings of $801 million, or 87 cents a share, compared to $471 million, or 51 cents a share, in 2002. Sales rose to $24.3 billion from $20.6 billion.
The company said it saw solid gains in its performance plastics segment. The fabricated products division did well, buoyed in part by the strong home- building market. Dow said its polymers business was especially strong in spite of weaker demand in the global advertising and carpet manufacturing industries.
Its agricultural sciences business posted a 13% increase in sales during what is "typically a seasonally slow quarter."
