EMN changes
Pick any two versions below to diff them.
- Price
- $62.33 → $66.53(+6.7%)
- Next earnings
- Oct 29, 2026 → Jan 29, 2027
- Next earnings is estimate
- No → Yes
- About
- Eastman Chemical is a specialty materials company based in Kingsport, Tennessee. It has four segments. Advanced Materials makes specialty plastics and interlayers for car windshields. Additives & Functional Products makes additives for coatings, care products and agriculture. Fibers makes acetate tow for cigarette filters and textile fibers. Chemical Intermediates makes olefins and other basic chemicals. Eastman also runs a methanolysis plant in Kingsport that breaks down polyester waste into raw materials for new plastics. Sales were removed: $2.51 added: $2.39 billion in removed: Q2 added: Q3 2026.
- Thesis
- The market prices Eastman for weak demand in its specialty markets and for gains that it sees as temporary. Demand stays weak in discretionary end markets such as cars, buildings and consumer durables. Fibers removed: sales added: earnings fell removed: 11% in removed: Q2 2026 because customers reduced their acetate tow stocks and removed: textile demand added: acetate tow contract prices fell. Much of the earnings growth in 2026 came from Chemical Intermediates, where the conflict in the Middle East disrupted supply and raised removed: spreads, added: spreads. The same conflict raised raw material and removed: Eastman expects this effect added: distribution costs. In Q3 2026, adjusted EPS fell to removed: lessen. added: $1.84 from $1.97 in Q2, and Eastman removed: also lowered its 2026 operating cash flow outlook added: again, to about added: $850 million from about $900 removed: million, because inflation increased accounts receivable. added: million. For the gap to close, three things must be true. removed: Q3 2026 adjusted EPS added: Eastman must removed: be near the $1.97 added: reach its 2026 outlook of removed: Q2, as the company expects. added: $6.00 to $6.20 adjusted EPS, with higher prices that cover its higher costs. Specialty volumes must grow, with Fibers volumes rising added: in Q4 2026 as customers buy to meet their annual contracts. Eastman must release working capital in removed: the second half added: Q4 2026 and keep its cost savings of $125 million to $150 million. The methanolysis plant must keep ramping up and win packaging removed: customers. The Q3 2026 report on October 29, 2026 gives added: customers, helped by the removed: next test. added: $375 million award from the US Department of Energy that Eastman says was reinstated. The full-year report removed: and added: with the 2027 removed: outlook added: outlook, expected in removed: early 2027 are added: late January 2027, is the added: next and main removed: tests. added: test. The gap can close only over several years, as demand in its end markets recovers. The main reason it may not close is a long period of weak demand for cars, buildings and consumer goods, which Eastman cannot control.
- Risks
- Specialty volumes depend on discretionary end markets such as cars, buildings and consumer durables. Demand in these markets stayed weak in removed: the first half of 2026, and removed: a added: Eastman saw softer demand in cars and consumer durables in Q3 2026. A recession would cut volumes further. Chemical Intermediates earnings rose in 2026 because the conflict in the Middle East disrupted supply. When supply returns to normal, spreads and earnings in this segment can fall. added: The conflict also raised Eastman's raw material and distribution costs, and price increases must keep up with them. Acetate tow demand falls over time as fewer people smoke, and customers reduced their stocks in 2026. Fibers sales fell 11% in removed: Q2 added: the first nine months of 2026, and lower acetate tow contract prices cut Fibers earnings in Q3 2026. The returns on the methanolysis plant depend on demand for recycled content and on prices that customers pay for it. Slow demand would lower the return on this investment.
- Balance sheet
- Cash: removed: $691M added: $768M Debt: $5.2B Net debt: $4.5B removed: Debt due within 12 months: $765M Eastman funds its operations with senior notes, commercial paper and a revolving credit facility. At removed: June added: September 30, 2026, total borrowings were $5.22 removed: billion: $4.45 billion removed: of long-term borrowings and removed: $765 million due within one year. Cash added: cash was removed: $691 million. added: $768 million, so net debt was $4.45 billion, up from $4.22 billion at December 31, 2025. In Q1 2026, Eastman issued $600 million of 4.5% notes due February 2031. Its $1.50 billion revolving credit facility matures in February 2031 and backs its commercial paper program. removed: Eastman plans capital spending of about $400 added: Operating cash flow was $377 million in removed: 2026 added: the first nine months of 2026, and added: Eastman expects added: about $850 million for the year, because it expects to release working capital in removed: the second half added: Q4 2026. Eastman paid $288 million of added: dividends and bought back no shares in the removed: year. added: first nine months of 2026. Its priorities for cash are the dividend, capital spending and removed: share buybacks, while it keeps an investment-grade balance sheet. As of removed: Jun added: Sep 30, 2026.
- Checkpoints
- Oct 29, 2026: Q3 2026 earnings: specialty volumes. removed: Pending. added: Failed. Watch: Adjusted EPS near $1.97, higher Advanced Materials and Fibers earnings and a working capital release pass; adjusted EPS well below $1.97 or a lower cash flow outlook fails. added: Outcome: Adjusted EPS was $1.84, Fibers earnings fell from a year earlier, and Eastman lowered its 2026 operating cash flow outlook to about $850 million. Jan added: 29, 2027 (estimate): Full-year 2026 results and 2027 outlook. Pending. Watch: Operating cash flow near $900 million for 2026 and a 2027 outlook for higher specialty earnings pass; an outlook that depends on Chemical Intermediates or shows lower earnings fails.
- Recent events
- added: Oct 29, 2026: Eastman reported Q3 2026 results. Sales rose 8% to $2.39 billion, with 7% higher prices. Adjusted EPS rose to $1.84 from $1.14 a year earlier, but it was below the $1.97 of Q2 2026. Fibers earnings fell because of lower acetate tow contract prices. Eastman expects 2026 adjusted EPS of $6.00 to $6.20 and lowered its 2026 operating cash flow outlook to about $850 million. It also said that the US Department of Energy reinstated a $375 million award for the scale up of its circular platform. Jul 30, 2026: Eastman reported Q2 2026 results. Sales rose 10% to $2.51 billion, and adjusted EPS rose to $1.97 from $1.60. Chemical Intermediates sales rose 39% on higher volumes and prices, while Fibers sales fell 11%. Eastman expects Q3 2026 adjusted EPS to approach $1.97 and now expects 2026 operating cash flow to approach $900 million. Jul 15, 2026: Officials of the US Environmental Protection Agency visited Eastman's methanolysis plant in Kingsport, Tennessee. May 19, 2026: Eastman received ISO 59014 certification for its circular material recovery.