Al Root
Shares of materials conglomerate DuPont rose after the company reported better-than-expected earnings. There were some encouraging signs of business improvement.
DuPont on Tuesday announced adjusted third-quarter earnings per share of $1.18 from sales of $3.2 billion. Wall Street was looking for $1.03 and $3.2 billion, respectively. A year ago, DuPont reported EPS of 92 cents from sales of $3.1 billion.
Looking ahead, DuPont expects fourth-quarter profit of 98 cents a share from sales of $3.1 billion, in line with what analysts currently project.
It looked like a solid report. DuPont shares were up 2.7% at $84.07 in premarket trading. S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures both were up about 0.2%.
"Our results reflect continued strong quarterly financial performance with sequential improvement across all key financial metrics," said CEO Lori Koch in a news release. "We are benefiting from continued demand recovery in electronics while also seeing improvement in our water and medical packaging end-markets."
Comparable sales in the company's electronics and industrial segment, which supplies semiconductor makers, among others, rose 10% year over year.
Water and protection segment sales fell by 2%, but profit margins improved by almost 1 percentage point. That segment supplies water purification technologies and products such as Tyvek to the construction industry.
Options markets imply shares will move about 5% up or down following earnings. Shares have moved an average of about 7% following the past four quarterly reports. Shares rose three times and fell once over that span.
Coming into Tuesday trading, DuPont stock has risen about 6% this year.
Management hosts a conference call at 8 a.m. Eastern time.
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 05, 2024 06:52 ET (11:52 GMT)
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