Celanese sees Q1 EPS 25c-50c, consensus $1.65

Celanese (CE) expects the sequential demand and pricing challenges experienced in the fourth quarter to be largely unchanged in the first quarter, with continued weakness in core end-markets like automotive, construction, paints, coatings, and industrial. Celanese expects additional headwinds in the first quarter from seasonality in both the acetate tow and the medical implants businesses, as well as a planned outage at the Bishop, Texas facility. Additionally, the Company expects a delay until the second quarter of dividend income from the acetate joint venture in China due to a recent change in Chinese law that will adjust the payments to three times a year instead of quarterly. The Company anticipates approximately $100 million headwinds from these factors and expects them to be contained to the first quarter. “While we do not expect significant changes in the overall demand landscape in the first quarter, we continue to drive actions to mitigate these headwinds,” said Scott Richardson. “Including the impact of non-recurring costs, we anticipate first quarter earnings per share to be $0.25 to $0.50. The one-time factors impacting the first quarter, along with some modest improvement in volumes, give us visibility to meaningful sequential improvement in the second quarter, and we anticipate second quarter earnings per share to be approximately $1.00 per share higher than the first quarter before benefits from any other business improvement actions we are taking.”