Savings set to push up 2022 earnings

Article Excerpt

QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP. $244 is still a buy. The company (New York symbol KWR; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 17.9 million; Market cap: $4.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.6; Dividend yield: 0.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.quakerhoughton.com) completed its acquisition of rival specialty chemicals maker Houghton International in August 2019. It paid Houghton’s owners $170.8 million in cash and a 24.5% stake in the combined company. Quaker now expects savings from the Houghton purchase and other cost-control measures will cut its annual costs by $75 million in 2021. Those annual savings will rise to $80 million in 2022. The cost cuts will help lift Quaker’s projected earnings by 19.7%, from $7.14 a share in 2021 to $8.55 in 2022. The stock trades at a high, but still acceptable, 28.5 times that 2022 forecast. Quaker Chemical is a buy. buy. …