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Methanex (MEOH) Earnings and Sales Beat Estimates in Q1

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Chemical maker Methanex Corporation (MEOH - Free Report) recorded net profit (attributable to Methanex shareholders) of $132 million or $1.46 per share in the first quarter of 2017 as compared with a loss of $23 million or 26 cents logged a year ago and a profit of $24 million or 28 cents in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Earnings improved on a sequential comparison basis due to an increase in the realized price during the first quarter, which was partly offset by changes in the cost of methanol.

Adjusted (barring one-time items) earnings per share for the reported quarter was $1.56 per share, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.38 per share.

Adjusted EBITDA was $267 million in the first quarter of 2017 compared with $36 million in the first quarter of 2016. The improvement was primarily due to the significantly higher methanol prices, combined with record production and sales volume.

Production for the first quarter was 1,866,000 tons compared with 1,639,000 tons in the year-ago period.

Revenues rose roughly 86.2% year over year to $810 million in the reported quarter. The top line also beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $590 million.

Methanex Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

 

Financials

Cash flows from operating activities in the first quarter were $221 million compared with $70 million for the prior-year quarter. Cash and cash equivalents were $315.1 million in the first quarter of 2017, up 14.6% year over year. Long-term debt was around $1.48 billion, up roughly 0.5% year over year.

Outlook

Moving ahead, Methanex expects average methanol prices in second quarter of 2017 will be lower than the first quarter. As a result, the company expects EBITDA to be lower in the second quarter compared to the first.

Price Performance

Methanex’s shares rallied 28.6% in the past six months, outperforming the Zacks categorized Chemical Diversified industry’s gain of 17.6%.

Zacks Rank & Other Stocks to Consider

Methanex currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Other top ranked companies in the basic materials space include Univar Inc. , The Chemours Company (CC - Free Report) and Kronos Worldwide Inc (KRO - Free Report) . All the three stocks flaunt a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Univar has expected long-term growth of 9.4%.

Chemours has expected long-term growth of 15.5%.

Kronos has expected long-term growth of 5%.

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