Midland, MI, October28-- Dow Chemical Co.'s third-quarter profit surged 86 percent on increased plastics sales, but demand remains vulnerable to soaring energy costs, the No. 1 U.S. chemicals maker said Thursday.
Net income climbed to $617 million, or $0.65 per share, from $332 million, or $0.36 a share, a year earlier, the company said.
Wall Street analysts, on average, had expected earnings of $0.63 a share, according to Reuters Estimates.
Quarterly sales climbed 26 percent to $10.1 billion, helped by a 19-percent rise in prices and a volume increase of 7 percent. Those gains offset energy costs that rose an unprecedented $1.2 billion above the same period last year.
The company's sales of plastics -- used in everything from car parts to pipes -- climbed 38 percent to $2.6 billion during the quarter.
Sales in performance chemicals, used in inks, paints and water purification, were $1.7 billion, an increase of 21 percent.
Dow echoed comments by other chemical executives, saying the supply/demand balance has tightened across many of its products and around the globe.
That has allowed chemical makers like Dow to raise prices, passing through the soaring costs for key fuels like oil and natural gas, used to make chemicals and run plants.
"Solid economic growth continues, and although demand remains vulnerable to uncertainties around oil and natural gas, we are increasingly confident that the chemical industry upturn is a reality," said J. Pedro Reinhard, Dow's chief financial officer.
