Celanese Corp. (NYSE: CE) reported Q1 EPS of $2.62, $0.21 better than the analyst estimate of $2.41. Revenue for the quarter came in at $1.69 billion versus the consensus estimate of $1.77 billion.

• First quarter GAAP diluted earnings per share of $2.64 and adjusted earnings per share of $2.62 on net sales of $1.7 billion.
• Despite a challenging business environment, the Company delivered sequential growth in operating profit and adjusted EBIT due to the resiliency of the Engineered Materials and Acetyl Chain commercial models and continued stability in Acetate Tow.
• In the quarter, Celanese generated operating cash flow of $307 million and free cash flow of $224 million, both first quarter records.
• The Company reaffirmed its full year 2019 guidance for both adjusted EPS and free cash flow.
• Celanese continues to strategically invest in high return organic projects with recently announced incremental expansions in both Engineered Materials and the Acetyl Chain.
• Announced appointments of Mark Rohr to Executive Chairman and Lori Ryerkerk to Chief Executive Officer, effective May 1, 2019. Ryerkerk most recently served as Executive Vice President of Global Manufacturing at Shell.
• Welcomed A. Lynne Puckett as Senior Vice President and General Counsel, effective February 13, 2019.
• Announced an expansion of the thermoplastic co-polyester production unit at the Donegani facility in Ferrara, Italy to support continued growth in Engineered Materials.
• Announced expansion of Clear Lake methanol production to 1.7 million metric tons per year in support of the global reconfiguration of the acid production footprint.
• Commercialized 1,075 Engineered Materials projects in the first quarter of 2019, a 45 percent increase year over year, and on track to delivering more than 4,000 project wins in 2019.
• Completed the acquisition of Next Polymers Ltd., a leading domestic engineering thermoplastics compounder in India.
• Received a credit rating upgrade on April 12, by Standard & Poor\'s to BBB from BBB-.
• Increased the quarterly dividend by 15 percent to an annualized rate of $2.48 per share, the tenth consecutive year of dividend increases.
• Announced a new share repurchase authorization of $1.5 billion, adding to the $0.5 billion which remains from the prior authorization.

Outlook

"Challenging global business conditions persisted into the new year, and our strong first quarter performance solidly underscores the capability of our businesses to deliver in any environment," said Mark Rohr, chairman and chief executive officer. "Engineered Materials executed the project pipeline model to deliver earnings growth, both sequential and year over year, that was distinctly elevated beyond underlying market conditions. In the Acetyl Chain, another quarter of fundamentally strong earnings displayed the power to create incremental value by flexing our global network. Looking forward, we are not forecasting a significant improvement in demand in the current quarter, and therefore expect second quarter performance similar to first quarter. Based on an expectation that underlying fundamentals will begin to improve later this year, we have confidence in reaffirming our expectation for 2019 adjusted earnings of approximately $10.50 per share. We continue to strategically invest in our businesses and further expand our capability to drive consistent growth and value creation for our shareholders."

GUIDANCE:

Celanese Corp. sees FY2019 EPS of $10.50, versus the consensus of $10.37.

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