Company Update: E I du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD) – DuPont doubles down on cost cuts ahead of Dow Chemical merger

[Reuters] – DuPont said on Tuesday it was looking to cut its costs in 2016 by $730 million from 2015-levels. The company’s previous cost-reduction plan, launched under former CEO Ellen Kullman, had pegged cuts at $1.3 billion by the end of 2016 from 2013 levels. Both DuPont and Dow Chemical are streamlining their businesses, ahead of a merger that will create a company with an estimated combined market value of about $95 billion as of Monday’s closing. Read more on this. E. I. du Pont de Nemours and Company (DD) , valued at $46.86B, started trading this morning at $54.33. During today’s session, DD traded between $52.15 to $53.73 with the price of the stock fluctuating between $47.11 to $76.59 over the last 52 weeks. DD shares are currently priced at 19.20x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry ’s 14.10x earnings multiple for the same period. And for those looking to make a return holding the stock, the company pays shareholders $1.52 per share annually in dividends, yielding 2.78%. In a review of the consensus earnings estimate this quarter, 9 sell-side analysts are looking at $0.25 per share, which would be $0.32 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.01 sequential decrease. What we find to be interesting is that the full-year EPS estimate of $2.76 is a $0.60 setback when compared to the previous year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $5.53 Billion. If realized, that would be a 25.07% decrease over the year-ago quarter. In terms of ratings, Bernstein upgraded DD from Mkt Perform to Outperform (Jan 8, 2016). Previously, Citigroup downgraded DD from Buy to Neutral. Investors should keep in mind is that the average price target is $71.44, which is 31.49% above where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:DD) Similar Articles: Company Update: E I du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD) – DuPont layoffs before merger a credit negative for Delaware -Moody’s Market Update: E I du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD) – DuPont Names Timothy P. Glenn as President, DuPont Crop Protection Market Update: E I du Pont de Nemours and Company (NYSE:DD) – DuPont Names New DuPont Fellows