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Celanese's (CE) Stock Rallies 40% in 6 Months: Here's Why

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Shares of Celanese Corporation (CE - Free Report) have surged 40.1% in the past six months. The company has also outperformed the industry’s decline of 15.3% over the same time frame. The stock also topped the S&P 500’s 18% rise over the same period.

Celanese, carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), has a market cap of roughly $15.2 billion. Average volume of shares traded in the last three months is around 655.2K.

 

Let’s take a look into the factors that are driving the stock’s price performance.

What’s Aiding the Stock?

Celanese is gaining from its productivity actions, investments in high-return organic projects and strategic acquisitions. It is committed toward executing its productivity programs that include the implementation of a number of cost reduction capital projects. The company expects to achieve gross savings of $200 million from its productivity actions in 2020. Notably, the company already attained $166 million of this productivity target. Productivity actions are expected to support to its margins in 2020.

The company is also seeing a recovery in demand across its end markets. In October, Celanese stated that global demand during the third quarter progressed toward recovery across most of its end markets. It expects the momentum witnessed in the third quarter to continue in the fourth quarter. The company is focused on controllable actions to drive strong growth next year amid uncertainties.

Moreover, Celanese continues to actively pursue acquisitions, which are providing it opportunities for additional growth, investment and synergies. The acquisitions of SO.F.TER., Nilit and Omni Plastics are expected to contribute to earnings expansion in the company's Engineered Materials segment. The Elotex acquisition also strengthened the company’s position in the vinyl acetate ethylene emulsions space. The buyout is expected to contribute to volumes in the Acetyl Chain segment this year.

Last Month, Celanese signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Mitsubishi Gas to restructure Korea Engineering Plastics Co. (KEP). Celanese and Mitsubishi Gas are focused toward increasing KEP’s production capacity enhancing the long-term security of supply to its consumers as well as support growth. The rise in volumes is expected to reflect in a series of steps in the years to come.

 

Other Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks in the basic materials space include Fortescue Metals Group Limited (FSUGY - Free Report) , BHP Group (BHP - Free Report) and Impala Platinum Holdings Limited (IMPUY - Free Report) .

Fortescue has a projected earnings growth rate of 53.6% for the current fiscal. The company’s shares have surged 152.8% in a year. It currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

BHP has an expected earnings growth rate of 43.3% for the current fiscal. The company’s shares have gained around 23.6% in the past year. It currently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1.

Impala has an expected earnings growth rate of 131.7% for the current fiscal. The company’s shares have surged around 43% in the past year. It currently sports a Zacks Rank #1.

5 Stocks Set to Double

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