SunTrust Upgrades Dow On Disciplined Capex Plans
The Dow Chemical Company’s (NYSE: DOW) disciplined approach to capital expenditure is likely to result in attractive free cash flow generation and strong dividend, according to SunTrust Robinson Humphrey.
The Analyst
SunTrust’s James Sheehan upgraded Dow Chemical Company from Hold to Buy while raising the price target from $52 to $59.
The Thesis
Key chemical companies experienced decline in earnings and soft margins in late 2018 and 2019, and there seems to be “very limited further downside” in 2020, Sheehan said in the upgrade note.
He added that Dow Chemical’s earnings could benefit in 2020 from its recent capacity investments and incremental synergy savings.
Against the backdrop of continued macro uncertainty in 2020, the company’s earnings could prove to be more resilient than peers, the analyst further mentioned.
Sheehan noted that Dow Chemical’s cash restructuring costs would decline by $1 billion and cash interest by $100 million. Given these, and expectations of free cash flows exceeding $4 billion in 2020, the company would have enough liquidity to further deleverage, pay its dividend of $2.1 billion and have funds remaining for additional share buybacks.
Price Action
Shares of Dow Chemical Company were up 0.17% at $53.31 at the time of publishing on Monday.
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Latest Ratings for DOW
Dec 2019 | Upgrades | Hold | Buy | |
Dec 2019 | Downgrades | Overweight | Equal-Weight | |
Oct 2019 | Maintains | Outperform |
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