By Katherine Hamilton

Eastman Chemical's fourth-quarter profit rose fueled by growth in its specialty plastics market, which the company plans to lean on as it expects headwinds going into 2025.

The chemicals and plastics manufacturer said it earned $330 million, or $2.82 a share, in the three months ended Dec. 31, compared with $310 million, or $2.61 a share, a year earlier.

Stripping out certain one-time items, adjusted per-share earnings were $1.87, ahead of the $1.57 forecast by analysts, according to FactSet.

Revenue rose about 2% to $2.25 billion. Analysts surveyed by FactSet forecast revenue of $2.27 billion.

Annual earnings for 2024 were $7.67 a share, up from $7.49 a share in 2023. In October, Eastman guided for $7.50 to $7.70 in full-year earnings per share, which was a downgrade from earlier guidance. The Kingsport, Tenn.-based company said at that time that it was taking longer than expected to achieve consistent production rates at its methanolysis facility. On Thursday, it said the facility operated well in the fourth quarter.

Eastman had higher specialty plastics sales volume due to customer inventory destocking across end markets. The company anticipates seeing modest volume growth in that sector continue in 2025, though some of its other markets aren't expected to deliver growth, Chief Executive Mark Costa said.

Quarterly demand was in line with Eastman's expectations as it is facing macroeconomic uncertainty and persistently weak end-market demand. Headwinds include higher energy costs, a stronger U.S. dollar and customer inventory management in the fibers business. Eastman aims to offset those by reducing structural costs.

Eastman guided for 2025 earnings per share between $8 and $8.75, with cash from operations of about $1.3 billion. Analysts are expecting $8.43 for full-year earnings per share.

Write to Katherine Hamilton at katherine.hamilton@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 30, 2025 17:23 ET (22:23 GMT)

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