Dow Chemical beats Street 4Q forecasts

Activist investor Daniel Loeb of hedge fund Third Point has been agitating for the removal of Liveris from the merged company, alleging that he failed to unlock value for Dow shareholders during his time as CEO.

Loeb, who had previously called for a break-up of the company, sent a private letter to the company’s board in December, raising questions about the timing of the DuPont deal, according to the Wall Street Journal.

The companies said the combination will be highly synergetic and will result in a company with around $130 billion of market capitalization. Stock is trading in the real-time trading session with the total volume of 6.93 million shares, as compared to its average volume of 16.76 million shares.

Dow Chemical Co (NYSE:DOW) was upgraded by RBC Capital to a “top pick” rating in a note issued to investors on Wednesday, Market Beat reports.

It was not immediately clear what role, if any, Loeb and Third Point played in negotiating the timeline for Liveris’s departure.

“The global economy continues to be volatile with consistent demand being driven by the consumer, especially in the USA and increasingly from China”, Liveris said in a prepared statement.

The tie up between Dow Chemical and DuPont will create the world’s largest agriculture business, overtaking both Monsanto and Syngenta AG. In 2010, ChemChina participated in Dow’s unsuccessful effort to sell its Dow AgroSciences arm, Liveris said.

Dow Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris touted 2016 as a major year for the company that includes the merger, maximizing synergies between the two companies and preparing for the spinoffs. Deutsche Bank reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $58.00 target price (up from $55.00) on shares of Dow Chemical in a research report on Friday, October 23rd. Chase Investment Counsel Corp now owns 5,940 shares of the company’s stock valued at $305,000 after buying an additional 700 shares during the last quarter.

Dow also named James Fitterling president on Tuesday.

“His appointment is extremely well deserved, and a reflection of his abilities and commitment to our company”, Liveris said during the conference call. Dow employed almost 50,000 people globally past year.

The company is slated to release its fourth-quarter results before the bell on Tuesday, February 2, with analysts polled by Thomson Reuters estimating earnings of $0.70 per share and revenue of $11.20 billion.