Shares of Dow Inc. DOW, +3.75% rose 1.0% in premarket trading Thursday, after the materials science company reported first-quarter profit and sales that rose above expectations, helped by price gains across all operating segments. Net income increased to $1.01 billion, or $1.32 a share, from $258 million, or 32 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted earnings per share rose to $1.36 from 59 cents, beating the FactSet consensus of $1.14. Sales grew 21.6% to $11.88 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $11.09 billion. Among Dow’s business segments, packaging and specialty plastics sales rose 32.0% to $6.08 billion to beat the FactSet consensus of $5.37 billion; industrial intermediates and infrastructure sales increased 18% to $3.61 billion, above expectations of $3.49 billion; and performance materials and coatings sales were up 3% to $2.12 billion, topping the FactSet consensus of $2.10 billion. Local price increased 19% from a year ago. “[D]espite supply constraints, we saw demand growth as the economic recovery continued to broaden, most notably in packaging, construction, mobility, electronics and consumer durables end-markets,” said Chief Executive Jim Fitterling. The stock has rallied 16.8% year to date through Wednesday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average DJIA, +0.93% has advanced 11.5%.
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