Celanese Corp (CE) continues to trade like an all-star, recently hitting a new 52-week high on the heels of strong Q1 results that included a 16% earnings surprise. With estimates on the rise and a bullish growth projection, this Zacks #1 rank stock has some nice upward momentum.
Company Description
Celanese Corp operates as an industrial chemical maker, specializing in acetyl and engineered polymers. The company was founded in 2004 and has a market cap of $8.1 billion.
Although CE has been trading strong since early September, shares got an extra boost in late April when the company reported strong Q1 results that came in ahead of expectations.
First-Quarter Results
Revenue for the period was up 14% from last year to $1.6 billion. Earnings also came in strong at 96 cents, 16% ahead of the Zacks Consensus Estimate, where the company has an average earnings surprise of 13% over the last four quarters.
The company saw a pretty balance performance from its different units, with Advanced Materials sales up 16% to $328 million while Industrial Specialties gained 20% to $290 million.
Celanese also announced that the board of directors had approved a 20% increase in the company’s quarterly dividend, climbing from 5 to 6 cents.
Estimates
We saw some pretty solid movement in estimates off the good quarter, with the current year adding 38 cents to $4.36 while the next-year estimate gained 35 cents to $4.92, a solid 13% growth projection.
Valuation
But in spite of recent gains, the valuation picture still looks compelling, with its forward P/E of 12X a discount to its peer average of 15.5X.
12-Month Chart
On the chart, shares have been locked into a very smooth up trend for most of the last 9 months, recently hitting a new multi-year high on the good quarter. Look for support from the trend line on any weakness, take a look below.
Michael Vodicka is the Momentum Stock Strategist for Zacks.com. He is also the Editor in charge of the Zacks Momentum Trader Service.
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