Celanese Corporation CE declared that its board of directors has approved a new share buyback authorization worth $1 billion, to be executed over the next two years. This authorization constitutes around 11% of the company’s total outstanding shares. In the ongoing quarter (third quarter of 2015), the company has already spent $400 million to buy back 6.3 million shares under its previous share repurchase authorization worth $451 million.
Celanese has returned over $850 million to its shareholders through the repurchase of almost 15 million shares since 2012. The new share buyback program highlights the company’s capacity to generate higher cash flows in order to boost its balance sheet, and fund growth plans with a balanced capital allocation strategy. Alongside, Celanese remains focused on returning capital to its shareholders through a combination of share repurchases and dividends.
Celanese generated a record $283 million in cash from operating activities and record adjusted free cash flow of $176 million in second-quarter 2015. This was backed by solid earnings and good working capital management.
Celanese is confident that it can drive performance through the rest of 2015 despite currency headwinds and a challenging macro environment, especially the recent volatility in China. The company expects to offset these headwinds with strong operating performance across all its segments and higher productivity gains.
Celanese’s shares rose as much as around 4% in the trading session on Wednesday, before closing the day at $61.38.
Celanese currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
Better-ranked stocks in the chemical space include Innospec Inc. IOSP, Air Products & Chemicals Inc. APD and Akzo Nobel N.V. AKZOY. While Innospec sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), both Air Products and Akzo Nobel carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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