Westlake Corporation’s WLK subsidiary, Westlake Innovations, announced that it invested in Universal Matter, Inc., an Ontario-based company aiming to become a leading supplier of high-quality and sustainable graphene and advanced materials to help decarbonize the planet. The investment by WLK is driven by its continuous efforts to develop a sustainable future through improvement in its own manufacturing and strategic investments in innovative technologies and startup firms.

Universal Matter’s patented Flash Joule Heating technology was first developed at Rice University to create tunable graphene across 1D, 2D and 3D morphologies. This technology allows for cost-effective, industrial-scale upcycling of carbon waste streams into high-quality graphene and graphitized carbon. Additionally, Universal Matter can also disperse the graphene in a variety of liquid or solid mediums to make it easier for customers to incorporate graphene into their downstream industrial products and achieve performance improvements.

Graphene has a number of potential performance and sustainability benefits that could apply across several of Westlake’s Performance & Essential Materials and Housing & Infrastructure Products business lines. For this reason, WLK saw an opportunity in working with Universal Matter and its management team.

WLK, on its third-quarter call, noted that there is still a disparity in the rate of recovery from the recent decline in global manufacturing and industrial activity. However, the macroeconomic recovery might pick up speed due to the recent fiscal and monetary support. WLK will continue to concentrate on developing and launching cutting-edge new products to satisfy consumer demands, boost plant profitability and generate long-term value for its shareholders.

Westlake Corp. Price and Consensus

Westlake Corp. price-consensus-chart | Westlake Corp. Quote

WLK’s Zacks Rank and Key Picks

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

Some better-ranked stocks in the Basic Materials space are CF Industries Holdings, Inc. CF, Coeur Mining, Inc. CDE and Ingevity Corporation NGVT. While CF and CDE carry a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) each at present, NGVT carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CF’s current-year earnings is pegged at $6.35 per share. CF’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in two of the trailing four quarters and missed the rest, with the average surprise being 10.3%. The company’s shares have gained 7.8% in the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CDE’s current year earnings is pegged at 15 cents per share, indicating a rise of 165.2% from year-ago levels. CDE surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate thrice in the trailing four quarters with an average earnings surprise of 46.1%. The stock has gained 63.2% in the past year. 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NGVT's current-year earnings is pegged at $2.55 per share. NGVT beat the consensus estimate in three of the last four quarters while missing the mark in one, with the earnings surprise being 95.4%, on average.

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