Celanese sees Q2 adjusted EPS $1.30-$1.50, consensus $1.39

“The already difficult demand environment has become more uncertain with the developments around tariffs and global trade issues. Our global production network provides us flexibility to manage most of the direct cost impacts of the current tariff conditions. Due to our mitigation preparations, we don’t anticipate direct tariff impact in the second quarter,” said CEO Scott Richardson. “We expect tailwinds as several non-recurring items from the first quarter do not repeat, including the resumption in the second quarter of the dividend in the Acetyl Chain from our partner in China. We also anticipate slight volume recovery in automotive in the second quarter with more stabilized demand especially in the U.S. and China, as well as a normalization of acetate tow orders after the first quarter timing delays. Given these dynamics, we anticipate second quarter adjusted earnings per share to be $1.30-$1.50. Still, the potential impacts of tariffs on demand make it difficult to predict earnings for the full year. In times like these of high uncertainty, the most important lever that we can pull is cash generation to deleverage our balance sheet, and that will remain our top priority. Over the past five years we have averaged approximately $1B in free cash flow each year, and I’m confident we can capitalize on that critical capability during these challenging times. Considering the macro-driven earnings uncertainty, cash generation is our emphasis, and we expect to deliver $700M-$800M of free cash flow in 2025, assuming no meaningful downturn in demand.”