Koppers Holdings Inc. KOP logged a loss (attributable to the company) of $10.2 million or 50 cents per share for the fourth quarter of 2024. This is in contrast to a profit of $12.9 million or 59 cents per share a year ago. 

Barring one-time items, adjusted earnings were 77 cents per share for the quarter, up from 67 cents per share a year ago. It missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 91 cents.

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Koppers recorded revenues of $477 million for the quarter, down around 7% year over year. The top line missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $497 million. The Railroad and Utility Products and Services (“RUPS”) segment saw lower sales on reduced volumes for Class I crossties. KOP also saw lower sales across Performance Chemicals (PC) and Carbon Materials and Chemicals (“CMC”) segments in the reported quarter.

Koppers Holdings Inc. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Koppers Holdings Inc. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Koppers Holdings Inc. Quote

KOP's Segment Highlights

Sales from the RUPS segment fell around 0.4% year over year to $215.6 million in the reported quarter. It was below the consensus estimate of $226.9 million. Lower volumes for Class I crossties were partly offset by increased volumes of utility poles and pricing increases across several markets.

The PC segment recorded sales of $147.9 million in the quarter, down around 10% year over year. It was below the consensus estimate of $160.9 million. Sales were impacted mainly due to lower volumes of residential and industrial preservatives. Prices remained relatively flat in the quarter. 

Sales from the CMC division fell around 14% year over year to $113.5 million. It missed the consensus estimate of $127 million. The downside was due to lower market pricing, including carbon pitch, and reduced carbon pitch volumes, partly offset by higher volumes of other products.

KOP’s FY24 Results

Earnings (as reported) for full-year 2024 were $2.46 per share, down from $4.14 a year ago.  Sales fell around 3% year over year to around $2,092.1 million.

Koppers' Financials

Koppers ended 2024 with cash and cash equivalents of $43.9 million, down around 34% year over year. Long-term debt was $925.9 million, up around 11% from the prior year.

KOP's Outlook

Koppers anticipates sales for 2025 to be roughly $2.17 billion factoring in the current competitive landscape, global economic conditions and the prevailing uncertainty associated with geopolitical and supply chain challenges. It expects adjusted EBITDA to be around $280 million for the year. Koppers sees adjusted earnings per share to be $4.75 for 2025.

The company also expects capital expenditures of roughly $65 million for this year. It sees operating cash flows of around $150 million in 2025, including any impact from planned pension terminations and other special items. 

KOP Stock’s Price Performance

Koppers’ shares have lost 48.3% in the past year compared with the Zacks Chemicals Diversified industry’s 7.6% decline.

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KOP’s Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks

KOP currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Better-ranked stocks in the Basic Materials space are Fortuna Mining Corp. FSM, Kronos Worldwide, Inc. KRO and Orla Mining Ltd. ORLA, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

Fortuna is scheduled to release fourth-quarter results on March 5. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FSM’s fourth-quarter earnings is pegged at 16 cents per share. FSM beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the last four quarters while missing twice, with the average earnings surprise being 53.5%.

Kronos Worldwide is expected to release fourth-quarter results on March 5. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for KRO’s fourth-quarter earnings stands at 11 cents. KRO beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the last four quarters while missing once, with the average earnings surprise being 41.7%.

Orla Mining is slated to report fourth-quarter results on March 18. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fourth-quarter earnings is pegged at 8 cents. ORLA beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the last four quarters while missing once and meeting on the other occasion, with the average earnings surprise being 97.9%.

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