Dow reports profit and sales drop as the global economy slows, but beats Wall Street expectations

Dow Inc.
DOW,
-1.53%
reported third-quarter profit and sales that fell from a year ago, amid slower global macroeconomic activity, but managed to beat expectations. Shares of the specialty chemicals company were still inactive in the premarket. Net income declined to $302 million, or 42 cents a share, from $739 million, or $1.02 a share, in the year-ago period. Excluding nonrecurring items, adjusted EPS of 48 cents beat the FactSet consensus of 44 cents. Sales 24% to $10.73 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $10.36 billion. Packaging and specialty plastics sales fell 25.6% to $5.45 billion, industrial intermediates and infrastructure sales were down 25.2% to $3.04 billion and performance materials and coatings sales declined 19.7% to $2.13 billion. “Despite higher sequential feedstock costs, we continued to implement targeted actions to deliver $1 billion in cost savings in 2023,” said Chief Executive Jim Fitterling. Dow’s stock has dropped 8.2% over the past three months through Monday, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average
DJIA,
-0.58%
has lost 7.0%.