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Bear of the Day: Dow (DOW)

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Key Takeaways

  • Dow missed by 282% on Q2 2025 earnings.
  • Due to the challenging macroeconomic environment, Dow cut its dividend 50%.
  • Dow shares sink to 5-year lows.

Dow Inc. (DOW - Free Report) is struggling with uncertainty around tariffs and challenging industry conditions. This Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) recently cut its quarterly dividend by 50%.

Dow is a materials science company, and has customers in areas such as packaging, infrastructure, mobility and consumer applications. It operates manufacturing facilities in 30 countries.

Dow Missed on Q2 Earnings By 282%

On July 24, 2025, Dow reported its second quarter results and missed the Zacks Consensus by $0.31. Earnings were a loss of $0.42 compared to the Zacks Consensus of a loss of $0.11. That’s a miss of 282%.

It has missed 2 out of the last 4 quarters.

Net sales fell 7% to $10.1 billion with declines in all operating segments. Sequentially, net sales were down 3%.

Volumes were also down 1%, as gains in the US and Canada were more than offset by declines in India, the Middle East, Africa and Europe.

Local price was down 7% year-over-year with declines in all regions and operating segments.

Cash from operating activities was negative $470 million, and down $1.3 billion year-over-year, led by lower earnings from margin compression.

Dow Cuts the Dividend by 50%

On July 24, 2025, on the same day as it reported Q2 earnings, Dow also announced its Board of Directors had declared a quarterly dividend of $0.35 per share.

That was a dividend cut of 50% in response to the prolonged industry downturn.

Dow said the cut would enhance financial flexibility amidst the continuing challenging macroeconomic environment.

If that holds annually, it would be $1.40 a share and would still be yielding 5.5%.

It is still the 456th consecutive dividend it has paid since 1912. That’s an impressive record, through 2 world wars, a Great Depression and Great Recession and other economic and geopolitical challenges.

Analysts Are Bearish on 2025 and 2026

It should not be a surprise, with the big earnings miss and the dividend cut, that the analysts are bearish on Dow. Estimates had already been cut earlier this year, but they’ve been cut again.

1 earnings estimate was cut in the last 7 days, and 3 in the last 30 days, for 2025. That has pushed down the 2025 Zacks Consensus to $0.24 from $0.38 just a month ago.

That’s an earnings decline in 2025 of 86% as the company made $1.71 last year.

Here’s what it all looks like on the price and consensus chart.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Shares of Dow Sink Over the Last Year

The shares have been weak for some time. Dow has sunk to 1-year, and also, 5-year, lows.

Zacks Investment Research
Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

With earnings sinking, the stock is not cheap on either a price-to-earnings (P/E) basis or on a PEG ratio basis.

It trades with a forward P/E of 107 and has a PEG ratio, which measures the P/E divided by growth, of 11.3. A P/E under 15 and a PEG ratio under 1.0 indicate value.

This has been a tough year for Dow. Investors might want to wait on the sidelines for a sign of a turnaround in the earnings before jumping in.


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