Dow Chemical Shares Climb 2.4% Premarket As Company Tops Profit And Sales Estimates

The Dow Chemical Co. shares jumped 2.4% premarket, after the company blew past fourth-quarter profit and sales estimates. The company said it had net earnings of $3.527 billion, or $2.94 a share, in the fourth quarter, up from $734 million, or 63 cents a share, in the year earlier period. Adjusted per-share earnings came to 93 cents, well ahead of the FactSet consensus of 70 cents. Sales fell to $11.5 billion from $14.4 billion, but were also ahead of the FactSet consensus of $11.2 billion. Profit was boosted by a $1.96 per share gain from the spinoff of Dow Chlorine Products, a 52 cents gain from the sale of Dow's stake in MEGlobal, and am 11 cents charge for asset impairments and related costs. "During the quarter, we also successfully started up our PDH facility on the U.S. Gulf Coast; produced and shipped our first polyethylene product at our Sadara joint venture in Saudi Arabia; announced the transformative new merger with DuPont; commenced the restructuring of our Dow Corning and Kuwait joint ventures; and completed the divestiture of Dow Chlorine Products, Chief Executive Andrew Liveris said in a statement. Shares are down 4.8% in the last 12 months, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 5.3%.