Westlake price target lowered to $84 from $90 at BofA

BofA analyst Steve Byrne lowered the firm’s price target on Westlake (WLK) to $84 from $90 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares after the company announced it would close its entire liquid epoxy resin and Bisphenol A footprint at its Pernis, Netherlands facility. The announcement is “unsurprising” given the broader epoxy backdrop, but also “a tough reminder of the challenges companies face with European operations,” according to the analyst, who lowered the firm’s Q2 EBITDA estimate to $350M from $470M, largely reflecting lower polyethylene prices and operating rates, an extended outage at Geismar, and a more adverse impact from Westlake’s short ethylene position.