We have upgraded Dow Chemical Company (DOW) from Neutral to Outperform. Earnings of 24 cents in the third quarter of 2009 (significantly better than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 9 cents, and the 5 cents reported in the previous quarter) were driven by cost reduction and asset sales.
The company achieved cost synergies of over $1 billion in the first nine months of 2009. The Rohm and Haas acquisition is a positive for Dow, which is expected to consolidate higher margin and higher growth specialty businesses and reduce volatility in earnings and cash flow going forward.Zacks Investment Research
