Eastman Chemical downgraded to Neutral on headwinds at Piper Sandler

Piper Sandler last night downgraded Eastman Chemical to Neutral from Overweight with an unchanged price target of $96. Headwinds in Eastman’s key markets have turned out to be stronger and longer lasting than anticipated and have resulted in lower sales, margins and prices across most of the company’s reporting segments, with Fibers being the notable exception, the analyst tells investors in a research note. As a result of the current end market environment, the need for Eastman to take corrective actions to rebalance the inventory situation, and seeing better upside potential elsewhere in its coverage, Piper downgrades the shares.