Westlake Chemical Q3 Profit Soars

(RTTNews) - Westlake Chemical Corp. (WLK), Thursday reported an increase in net income for the third-quarter, with higher revenues, mainly attributable to higher sales volumes for styrene and caustic, higher sales prices for most of its products, and sales contributed by its recently acquired specialty PVC pipe business.

For the three-month period, the company reported net income of $170.2 million or $2.54 per share, compared with $86.9 million or $1.30 per share last year. The last year results included debt retirement costs of $7.08 million.

On average, nine analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings per share of $2.22 for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude one-time items.

EBITDA was $307 million, up from $175.6 million for the third quarter of 2012.

Net sales increased to $1 billion, from $821.1 million last year. Analysts expected the company to generate revenues of $939.14 million.