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Olin (OLN) Brings Part of Louisiana Facility to Operation

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Olin Corporation (OLN - Free Report) recently announced that half of its Plaquemine, LA chlor alkali plant has returned to operation. The site has been down since April 2022, and the remaining half is anticipated to resume operations in early August this year. 

Olin's Freeport, TX, facility continues to operate at a lower level of power generation with the projection that a part of the power generation will be restored in fourth-quarter 2022.  In May, Olin restarted integrated epoxy resin manufacturing at its Stade, Germany site, which had been temporarily idled in March 2022.

The company has experienced weaker than expected epoxy resin demand in North America and South America in second-quarter 2022.  It is reluctant to sell additional volume into a low-quality market and operating the epoxy resin sites at below 50% operating rates is impractical. Due to these factors, Olin announced that it is temporarily restraining epoxy and related upstream inputs production at its Freeport, TX and Guaruja, Brazil facilities.

The company also declared that it is temporarily curtailing a major portion of its ethylene dichloride and related chlor alkali production at its Freeport facility.  Olin decided to suspend this production partly due to the poor-quality ethylene dichloride market conditions.

Shares of Olin have gained 4.2% in the past year against a 15.5% decline of the industry.

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In its last earnings call, Olin stated that it expects second-quarter 2022 results to be higher than first-quarter 2022 levels in its Chemicals businesses amid sequentially higher raw material and operating costs, particularly increased natural gas and electrical power costs.

Its Chlor Alkali Products and Vinyls second-quarter results are projected to improve sequentially despite a roughly $75 million lower margin from lost sales and production volumes, increased maintenance expenses and other costs. Its Epoxy business expects to continue absorbing weaker epoxy resin demand and operate at low rates. With recently-announced price increases for ammunition and primers expected to offset higher commodity and other materials costs, the company expects Winchester’s second-quarter results to be similar to first-quarter 2022 levels.

Olin Corporation Price and Consensus

 

Olin Corporation Price and Consensus

Olin Corporation price-consensus-chart | Olin Corporation Quote

 

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Olin currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Allegheny Technologies Inc. (ATI - Free Report) , Cabot Corporation (CBT - Free Report) and Nutrien Ltd. (NTR - Free Report) .

Allegheny has a projected earnings growth rate of 1,030.8% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ATI's current-year earnings has been revised 40% upward in the past 60 days.

Allegheny’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the last four quarters. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 128.9%, on average. ATI has gained around 3.8% in a year and currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Cabot, currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1, has an expected earnings growth rate of 22.5% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CBT's earnings for the current year has been revised 6% upward in the past 60 days.

Cabot’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, the average being 16.2%. CBT has gained around 7.7% over a year.

Nutrien has a projected earnings growth rate of 174.6% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NTR’s current-year earnings has been revised 30.7% upward in the past 60 days.

Nutrien’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters, the average being 5.8%. NTR has gained 35.4% in a year. The company flaunts a Zacks Rank #1.

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