Just One Word: Plastics

April 28 (Bloomberg) -- Dow Chemical Co., the largest U.S. chemical maker, reported first-quarter profit that surged more than analysts estimated, boosted by higher sales of commodity plastics and rebounding demand in the U.S. and Europe. About 64 percent of Dow’s sales were outside North America last year.

Profit surged to $718 million from $122 million in the basic-plastics segment, the world’s largest producer of polyethylene used in bags and packaging. Dow’s plastics benefited as costs for natural gas, a key raw material in the U.S., were lower relative to oil, the ingredient used in Europe and Asia, said P.J. Juvekar, a New York-based analyst at Citigroup Global Markets.
“Basic plastics vastly exceeded our expectations,” Juvekar said today in a report. He rates the shares “buy.”

MP: The chart above shows that Dow Chemical has increased 140% in the last year compared to the DJIA, which has increased 40%.

HT: Erik Babocsi