DuPont Sees 2011 EPS of $3.30 to $3.60

During DuPont's DD 2010 Investor Day, Chair and CEO Ellen Kullman and the company's senior leaders outlined an integrated global strategy to deliver sustained growth, productivity gains, operating leverage, and disciplined execution in 2011 and beyond. DuPont reaffirmed its 2010 earnings per share (EPS) target of about $3.10 per share, excluding significant items, and established its 2011 EPS outlook at a range of $3.30 to $3.60 per share, despite an anticipated decline in pharmaceutical royalties of about $280 million due to patent expirations. From 2010 through 2015, DuPont expects EPS growth of about 12 percent compounded annually, excluding significant items. The company expects sales in the range of $33-$34 billion in 2011 with compound annual top-line growth of about 7 percent in the period 2010 through 2015. DuPont indicated full-year 2010 sales growth will be about 20 percent, doubling the 10 percent target set one year ago. This solid performance was driven by strong agricultural markets, industrial market recovery, market share gains and faster product introductions. DuPont also announced it expects fixed-cost productivity gains of about $300 million and additional working capital productivity of about $300 million in 2011. In 2010 alone, DuPont generated more than $400 million in fixed-cost productivity gains, well ahead of plan, while meeting its commitment of maintaining 75 percent of its $1 billion of fixed-cost savings from 2009.