Avient Corporation AVNT logged earnings from continuing operations of 52 cents per share in the fourth quarter of 2024, up from earnings of 30 cents it had reported a year ago. 

Barring one-time items, adjusted earnings for the reported quarter came in at 49 cents per share. It beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 48 cents. 

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Avient raked in revenues of $746.5 million, up around 4% year over year. It, however, missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $751.2 million. Organic sales were up 5% year over year aided by growth in all geographic regions.

Avient Corporation Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Avient Corporation price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Avient Corporation Quote

AVNT’s Segment Highlights

Sales from the Color, Additives and Inks unit were $467.7 million in the reported quarter, up roughly 2% year over year. It was below the consensus estimate of $479 million.

Specialty Engineered Materials recorded sales of $279.7 million, up around 8% year over year. It was above the consensus estimate of $277 million.

AVNT’s FY24 Results

Earnings (as reported) for full-year 2024 was $1.84 per share, up from 83 cents per share a year ago. Net sales rose around 3% year over year to $3,240.4 million.

Avient’s Financial Position

Avient ended 2024 with cash and cash equivalents of roughly $544.5 million, flat year over year. Long-term debt was around $2,059.3 million, down around 0.5% from the prior year.

Net cash provided by operating activities was $256.8 million for full-year 2024, up around 27% year over year.

AVNT’s Outlook

The company expects full-year 2025 adjusted earnings in the range of $2.70-$2.94 per share. the mid-point represents an 11% growth excluding the unfavorable currency impact.  AVNT sees adjusted EBITDA in the band of $540-$570 million for the full year. 

Avient projects first-quarter adjusted earnings to be 76 cents per share. This represents a 6% growth, excluding the currency impact.

AVNT Stock’s Price Performance

Avient’s shares have gained 8.8% in the past year compared with the Zacks Chemicals Diversified industry’s 3.2% decline.

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AVNT’s Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks

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

Better-ranked stocks in the Basic Materials space are Ingevity Corporation NGVT, ICL Group Ltd ICL and Nutrien Ltd. NTR. While NGVT carries a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), ICL and NTR have a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Ingevity is scheduled to release fourth-quarter results on Feb.18. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NGVT’s fourth-quarter earnings is pegged at 12 cents. NGVT surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters while missing once. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 95.4%, on average.  

ICL Group is slated to release fourth-quarter results on Feb.26. The consensus estimate for ICL’s fourth-quarter earnings is pegged at 6 cents. It surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in each of the last four quarters at an average of 18.1%.

Nutrien is scheduled to release fourth-quarter results on Feb.19. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NTR’s fourth-quarter earnings is pegged at 33 cents.

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