Tuesday, KeyBanc Capital upgraded Polyone Corp. (POL) shares to Hold from Underweight. The brokerage narrowed its 2009 loss per share estimate to $0.20 from $0.25. The brokerage estimates 2010 EPS of $0.30.
Analyst Saul Ludwig noted that while Polyone's first quarter loss per share of $0.04 was in line with his estimated loss of $0.05, POL exceeded his expectations for cash generation, thus removing near-term liquidity risk or any near-term potential for a Chapter 11 filing in his opinion. The analyst therefore is removing his Underweight rating and moving his rating to Hold.
The analyst said that yet POL still faces formidable challenges as its first quarter of 2009 volume tumbled by 34% and despite excellent steps to lower controllable costs, the company still lost money. Additional cost reductions will help offset additional volume weakness through the balance of the year.
The analyst expects POL to lose money every quarter in 2009 but due to its aggressive cost management, he has narrowed his loss expectation for the year to $0.20. Even though there is still a lack of hard evidence of a turnaround, for 2010 the analyst has baked in a sharp 15% volume improvement and based on that, he estimates 2010 EPS at a profit of $0.30.
With the stock at the $3 level, there is of course trading opportunities if anything resembling good news on housing is reported but given the low level of earnings and the high cash outflows POL faces over the next three years the analyst can only justify a Hold rating at this time.
Currently, POL is down $0.42 or 12.92% and trading at $2.83.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.