DuPont cuts forecast on agriculture sales drop
Jul 28, 2015, 6:24 AM
WILMINGTON, Del. (AP) — DuPont’s second-quarter profit fell 12 percent, and the chemical company lowered its forecast for the year after a stronger dollar and a sales drop in its agriculture segment affected results.
The company also cut its quarterly dividend from 49 cents to 38 cents. The company plans to buy back $2 billion in stock this year and another $2 billion next year with proceeds from its spinoff of its Chemours business.
The Wilmington, Delaware-based company now expects 2015 adjusted earnings to total about $3.10 per share, compared with a previous forecast for $4 per share. Company officials said most of that decrease came from removing results from its now-separated Chemours business.
Analysts had expected $3.50 per share, according to FactSet. But a company representative noted that those estimates still include Chemours results.
In the second quarter, DuPont Co. earned $940 million, compared with $1.07 billion in the same quarter last year. Adjusted results totaled $1.18 per share in the most recent quarter.
That came in a penny below the average expectation on Wall Street, according to Zacks Investment Research.
Revenue fell 11 percent to $8.6 billion.
That also missed average expectations of $9.28 billion.
Operating earnings fell 7 percent to $778 million for the company’s agriculture segment, which was hit by lower soybean sales. Lower prices for titanium dioxide helped drop operating earnings for the company’s performance chemicals segment 55 percent to $113 million.
DuPont shares closed at $56.73 on Monday and have decreased 23 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor’s 500 index has stayed nearly flat. The stock has dropped 13 percent in the last 12 months.
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Elements of this story were generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on DD at http://www.zacks.com/ap/DD
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Keywords: DuPont, Earnings Report, Priority Earnings
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