Celanese's first-quarter results showed that demand was recovering in line with our outlook for the cadence of the year. In the commodity chemicals acetyl chain business, volumes rose 11% versus the prior-year quarter, following inventory destocking that weighed on the first quarter of 2023.
Celanese built out its core acetic acid production facilities at a significantly lower capital cost per ton than its competitors thanks to the scale of its facilities (2 million tons versus average 0.5 million tons).
Celanese's acetyl chain business will face long-term margin pressure from a more narrow spread between Brent oil and US natural gas.
|
Metric
|
CE
|
DD
|
EMN
|
|---|---|---|---|
Price/Earnings (Normalized) | 19.30 | 22.80 | 15.84 |
Price/Book Value | 2.42 | 1.39 | 2.15 |
Price/Sales | 1.60 | 2.89 | 1.32 |
Price/Cash Flow | 12.17 | 14.99 | 11.70 |
|
Metric
|
CE
|
DD
|
EMN
|
|---|---|---|---|
Quick Ratio | 0.88 | 1.42 | 0.68 |
Current Ratio | 1.53 | 2.33 | 1.39 |
Interest Coverage | 2.59 | 1.72 | 5.91 |
|
Metric
|
CE
|
DD
|
EMN
|
|---|---|---|---|
Return on Assets (Normalized) | 3.79% | 3.84% | 5.14% |
Return on Equity (Normalized) | 15.40% | 6.07% | 14.13% |
Return on Invested Capital (Normalized) | 6.62% | 5.18% | 8.76% |
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Ticker
|
Name
|
Morningstar Rating for Stocks
|
Capital Allocation
|
Economic Moat
|
Market Cap
|
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