Specialty Chemicals

Nalco Holding Company's (NYSE: NLC) profits continued to increase in the third quarter, reflecting strong top-line growth, which was primarily volume-based, J.P. Morgan reports. “Consolidated sales improved 14% (13% organically); operating earnings increased 12%,” J.P. Morgan writes. “Excluding...

W. R. Grace & Co. (NYSE: GRA) today announced the purchase of the business and assets of Wuhan Meilixin New Building Materials Co., Ltd., a manufacturer of waterproofing products located in China. The financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. Meilixin has manufacturing facilities...

Albemarle Corp (ALB) continued its strong momentum into the third quarter. The specialty chemical company delivered earnings per share of $1.02, crushing the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 21%. It was the company's sixth consecutive positive earnings surprise. Management is upbeat about business, and...

Schulman, Inc. (Nasdaq: SHLM) announced today that it named John B. Broerman as Vice President and Chief Information Officer, effective November 1, 2010. Broerman previously was Director, Information Technology (IT) for the Company's Americas operations.

Molycorp, Inc. (NYSE: MCP) today announced that it has entered into agreements with W. R. Grace & Co. (NYSE: GRA) to supply rare earth products to Grace from Molycorp's Mountain Pass, California rare earth facility for a five-year period ending in 2015, which may be extended at Grace's option...

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (IFF) reported encouraging results for the third quarter of 2010. Adjusted net income soared 21.0% year over year to $79.1 million, or 98 cents per share compared with $65.4 million or 82 cents per share in the third quarter of 2009. Earnings per share...

Shares of OM Group, Inc. (NYSE: OMG) are currently up 10.7% at $37.59 per share during Thursday afternoon trading. Today's trading range for shares of OM Group, Inc has been between $34.55 and $37.59 per share. The consensus price target of analysts covering the company's stock is $38 per share....

PolyOne Corporation (NYSE: POL) today reported revenues of $680.8 million for the third quarter of 2010, a 24% increase compared to revenues of $548.3 million in the third quarter of 2009. Consolidated revenue growth was driven by a 15% increase in volume and higher selling prices principally...

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (NYSE: IFF) released financial results on Thursday morning that beat Wall Street estimates. International Flavors & Fragrances Inc announced that its 3rd quarter net income climbed to $77 million, or 95 cents per share, up from $52.8 million, or 66...

Here are 5 stocks added to the Zacks #1 Rank ("strong buy") List today: Avnet Inc (AVT) China Petro & Chem Corp (SNP) E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co (DD) W.R. Grace & Co (GRA) Green Dot Corp (GDOT) View the entire Zacks #1 Rank List. AVNET (AVT): Free Stock Analysis Report DU PONT (EI...

Sigma-Aldrich (SIAL) recently reported another strong quarter driven by solid organic sales growth and gross margin expansion. It was the company's fifth consecutive positive earnings surprise. Management also raised its guidance for the remainder of 2010, prompting analysts to raise their...

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (IFF) is slated to release its third quarter 2010 results on Thursday, November 4. The current Zacks Consensus Estimate for the third quarter earnings per share (EPS) is 86 cents, representing an annualized growth of 5.23%.    International Flavors...

JP Morgan has published a research report on Minerals Technologies (NYSE: MTX) following 3Q results that reported increased sales and profits. In the report, JP Morgan writes "MTX's 3Q:10 consolidated sales increased 7%, gross profit improved 19%, operating income rose 75%, and pro forma EPS...

Piper Jaffray is reiterating its OW stance on PolyOne Corporation (NYSE: POL) into 3Q results Thursday as several of the earnings releases last week suggested strong results for PolyOne. “PolyOne has experienced 3x's Ashland's y/y plastics distribution volume growth in 1H10 and we believe the trend...

In a Form 4 filed earlier today, Sensient Technologies Corp. (NYSE: SXT) Chairman of the Board, Kenneth Manning, reported that he sold 21,575 shares of SXT on October 28th for an average price of $31.97. The transaction totaled $689,690. Mr. Manning owns 184,673 direct shares and 2,000 indirect...