DuPont de Nemours topped Wall Street expectations for third-quarter profit as increased pricing and strong demand for its electronics and other industrial products helped the company beat mounting costs, sending its shares up nearly 6%, said Reuters.
The industrial materials maker also announced a new USD5 billion share repurchase program and said it would retire USD2.5 billion in long-term debt.
Double digit revenue jump in select segments, including water and auto adhesives, as well as an 8% hike in pricing helped offset the inflationary headwinds, DuPont Chief Executive Officer Ed Breen said on a post-earnings call.
The company has been grappling with rising costs for raw materials and energy due to decades-high inflation that was prompted by the pandemic and now intensified by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
It expects cost to rise to about USD800 million in the year from its previous estimate of USD700 million, mainly due to higher energy prices in Europe.
But the cost pressures would subside heading into 2023, as raw material prices have started to normalize, the company said.
Sales from the electronics and industrial unit, one of the company's highest revenue generating segments, rose 2.9% to USD1.51 billion in the reported quarter, while the water and protection segment raked in USD1.53 billion, up nearly 10% from a year earlier.
DuPont's revenue rose to USD3.3 billion in the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with analysts' average estimate of USD3.2 billion.
We remind, DuPont has terminated its USD5.2bn deal from November 2021 to acquire Rogers Corp as the companies have been unable to obtain timely clearance from all the required regulators. DuPont is paying Rogers a termination fee of USD162.5m, it said in a brief statement late on Tuesday. The companies had not been able to obtain approval from regulators in China, officials said previously.
mrchub.com