Stock Alert: Shares Of PolyOne Corp. (POL) Hit 52-Week High

(RTTNews) - Shares of PolyOne Corp. (POL), specialized polymer materials, services and solutions provider, touched a 52-week high of $36.04 on December 19, and closed Thursday's trading session at $35.97, up $3.46 or $10.64%.

Clariant Color and Additive Masterbatch Business Acquisition

December 19, PolyOne agreed to acquire Clariant color and additive masterbatch business for $1.45 billion. Clariant's color and additive masterbatch business, which had sales of $1.15 billion for the last twelve months, includes specialty technologies and solutions for high-growth global end markets, such as consumer, packaging, and healthcare.

PolyOne plans to fund this transaction, which is expected to close in mid 2020, through a combination of cash on hand, debt and equity.

The transaction, pro forma for anticipated synergies of $60 million, is expected to add $0.85 to adjusted EPS.

Looking Ahead...

For the fourth quarter, PolyOne now expects adjusted earnings per share of $0.30, a 25% increase over last year. Earlier, the company expected fourth quarter adjusted earnings to be up about 10%. This results in a full-year adjusted EPS outlook of $1.65 from continuing operations, a 9% increase over the prior year.

"We continue to deliver margin expansion in all three segments from pricing actions, improved mix and cost reductions," said Robert Patterson, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, PolyOne Corp. "The Specialty Engineered Materials segment in particular has exceeded our previous expectations, driven by strong performance in our composites platform and new business wins in healthcare."

Q3 Performance

Third-quarter net income from continuing operations attributable to PolyOne shareholders totaled $23.5 million or $0.30 per share compared to $32.5 million or $0.40 per share last year.

Adjusted income from continuing operations increased to $34.0 million or $0.44 per share from $33.0 million or $0.41 per share in the third quarter of 2018.

However, sales for the quarter amounted to $705.3 million, lower than the previous year's sales of $729.0 million.