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Eastman (EMN) Provides Kingsport Incident Update & Q1 View

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Eastman Chemical Company (EMN - Free Report) recently announced the impact of an operational incident at its manufacturing site in Kingsport, TN.

The company witnessed an operational incident at its Kingsport facility on Jan 31 led by a steam line failure. Per Eastman safety processes, all production operations at the facility were safely shut down post the incident.

The production site is safely returning to normal operations as fast as possible. The most impacted area is specialty copolyesters, which is projected to take four-six weeks to fully recover. Eastman will execute a normal four-week spring maintenance shutdown from late March to take place during the current repair process to minimize the impact on specialty copolyester customers.

Eastman noted that it is thankful that no one was seriously injured during this incident and grateful to its team for their response to the situation. The company continues to evaluate the financial impact of the incident, including pulling forward fixed and maintenance costs into the first quarter. It projects a modest impact on sales volume in specialty copolyesters and acetate tow.

The first-quarter earnings per share are forecast in the range of $2.05-$2.25. This includes robust earnings in January, reflecting solid underlying business conditions. For full-year 2022, the company reaffirmed its guidance for adjusted EPS between $9.50 and $10. It maintained the earlier provided segment-level guidance. Specialty copolyesters is reported through the company’s Advanced Materials segment and acetate tow is reported through the Fibers unit.

Eastman Chemical’s shares have increased 15.2% in the past year compared with a 10.1% rise of the industry.

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Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Eastman Chemical currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Albemarle Corporation (ALB - Free Report) , Nutrien Ltd. (NTR - Free Report) and AdvanSix Inc. (ASIX - Free Report) .

Albemarle, currently sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), has an expected earnings growth rate of 51.5% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ALB's earnings for the current year has been revised 5.6% upward in the past 60 days. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Albemarle beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in each of the trailing four quarters, the average being 22.1%. ALB has rallied around 45.3% over a year.

Nutrien, sporting a Zacks Rank #1, has a projected earnings growth rate of 55.8% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NTR's current-year earnings has been revised 13.2% upward in the past 60 days.

Nutrien beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in three of the last four quarters, while missing once. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 73.5%, on average. NTR has rallied around 34.6% in a year.

AdvanSix has a projected earnings growth rate of 7.4% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ASIX’s current-year earnings has been revised 5.3% upward in the past 60 days.

AdvanSix beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in each of the trailing four quarters, the average being 46.9%. ASIX has surged 67.4% over a year. The company carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

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