Key Takeaways

• Celanese missed profit and sales forecasts and took steps to cut costs as business sank.

• Chemicals supplier is cutting costs by slashing dividends by 95% and will idling production plants.

• Celanese said it faced "persistent demand weakness" in the previous quarter, and anticipates that will continue in the current one.

Celanese (CE) was the worst-performing stock in the S&P 500 on Tuesday after the chemicals supplier posted results that were worse than expected, slashed its dividend, and said it would cut production because of falling sales.

The company reported third-quarter earnings per share (EPS) of $2.44, with revenue down 2.8% to $2.65 billion. Both were short of forecasts. Celanese said it faced “persistent demand weakness across key end-markets like paints, coatings, and construction, as well as rapid and acute downturns in Western Hemisphere automotive and industrial segments.”

The news sent Celanese shares down some 25% in afternoon trading, leaving them off about 40% this year and at their lowest point in about two years.

The company said it would continue to "take actions commensurate with the current demand environment” — which includes temporarily slicing its quarterly dividend of $0.70 per share by 95% in the first quarter of 2025.

It also plans to reduce manufacturing costs through the rest of the year by temporarily suspending production at facilities in every region and raising $200 million through an inventory release this quarter. Celanese said that it would take other cost-cutting measures.

CEO Lori Ryerkerk said that in the third quarter the company “faced a severely constrained demand environment that, in some cases like auto, degraded swiftly." She warned that "we expect demand conditions to worsen in the fourth quarter.”

Celanese anticipates current-quarter EPS of $1.25, less than half of what analysts at Visible Alpha estimated.