DuPont's First Quarter Weak on Sluggish Demand

The chemical company misses analyst estimates as sales drop.

Author:: Michael Dunn
Publish date:: Apr 23, 2002 9:41 AM EDT

DuPont

missed first-quarter estimates by a penny on weaker industrial demand.

The chemical company said that, excluding charges, it earned $522 million, or 55 cents a share, compared with $567 million, or 54 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial/First Call had been expecting the company to see 56 cents a share.

Reported net income was $479 million, or 48 cents a share, down from $495 million, or 46 cents a share, a year ago. Sales also dropped from $6.86 billion to $6.14 billion, as revenue dropped from all segments except agriculture.

The company said it would need to see a large period of demand growth to offset the slump, despite cost- and job-cutting measures the company has undertaken since last year. DuPont did note that it expected its markets to improve going forward into 2002.

Shares of DuPont closed at $46.35 Monday.