Westlake price target lowered to $105 from $120 at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler analyst Charles Neivert lowered the firm’s price target on Westlake (WLK) to $105 from $120 and keeps a Neutral rating on the shares. The tariffs instituted by the U.S. and the likely retaliation and peripheral economic fallout from those tariffs have the potential to create long-lasting complications for the U.S. chemical industry, which is built on the significant advantage of ethane-based chemical production and exports as a means of growing volume and revenues in an otherwise low-growth U.S. market. Piper cautions that retaliation will likely ultimately not be helpful for foreign producers either.