J.P. Morgan Overweight On Eastman Chemical Company (EMN)

J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. has an Overweight rating and a $105 price target on shares of Eastman Chemical Company EMN after it reported earnings. In a note to clients, J.P. Morgan writes, "Eastman reported 1Q:11 EPS from operations of $2.52 versus $1.37 in the year-ago period, and our EPS estimate of $1.84. The Bloomberg Consensus estimate was $1.99 per share. EPS from operations excludes earnings from discontinued operations and a gain on the sale of discontinued operations totaling $38 million or $0.52 per share. The difference between reported results and our estimate was mainly due to much higher than forecast results in the Performance Chemicals & Intermediates (PCI) and Coatings, Adhesives, Specialty Polymers & Inks (CASPI) segments. Results in Eastman's Specialty Plastics and Fibers segments also exceeded our expectation. EMN stated that it expects full-year 2011 EPS to be slightly higher than $9 versus 2010 EPS of $7.15. The company expects 2Q:11 EPS results to be slightly higher than 1Q:11 earnings of $2.52 per share. The 2Q:11 Bloomberg Consensus estimate for EMN is currently $2.14 per share. Our 2011 EPS estimate is currently $8.00, which compares to the full-year 2011 Bloomberg Consensus EPS of $8.04. We rate Eastman Overweight." Shares of EMN are up $5.85 in early Friday trading to $108.84, a gain of 5.7%.