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Celanese
(NYSE:CE)
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Rating:56Neutral
Price Target:
$49.00
▲(10.06% Upside)
Action:Reiterated
Date:09/17/26
The score is held back primarily by weak financial performance (persistent losses, negative operating profitability, and elevated leverage), partially offset by still-positive free cash flow. Technicals show a modest rebound versus short-term averages but remain below longer-term trend levels. The earnings call adds support via maintained EPS/FCF frameworks and credible cost/divestiture actions, while valuation is mixed due to a negative P/E despite a high stated dividend yield.
Positive Factors
Positive cash generation
Celanese continues to generate substantial operating and free cash flow despite reported losses, providing an internal funding source for debt service, restructuring, and targeted investment. If sustained, this cash generation can support the company’s deleveraging plan and preserve flexibility through the chemicals cycle.
Negative Factors
Severe profitability deterioration
Deep losses and minimal EBITDA profitability indicate that Celanese’s earnings power has weakened materially from prior periods. Persistent negative operating profitability reduces the cash available for reinvestment and debt reduction, while making future results more dependent on operational recovery and portfolio actions.
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Positive Factors
Negative Factors
Positive cash generation
Celanese continues to generate substantial operating and free cash flow despite reported losses, providing an internal funding source for debt service, restructuring, and targeted investment. If sustained, this cash generation can support the company’s deleveraging plan and preserve flexibility through the chemicals cycle.
Read all positive factors
Celanese Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Any
Net Sales By Segment
Reveals revenue generated from each business unit, highlighting which segments drive growth and where the company might need to improve or expand.
Reveals revenue generated from each business unit, highlighting which segments drive growth and where the company might need to improve or expand.
Data provided by:
The Fly
The FlyCelanese (CE) vs. SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY)
Market Cap
$5.18B
Dividend Yield0.26%
Average Volume (3M)1.64M
Price to Earnings (P/E)―
Beta (1Y)0.67
Revenue Growth-2.28%
EPS Growth27.94%
CountryUS
Employees11,434
SectorBasic Materials
Sector Strength58
IndustryChemicals
Share Statistics
EPS (TTM)-10.68
Shares Outstanding109,748,924
10 Day Avg. Volume1,710,053
30 Day Avg. Volume1,638,947
Financial Highlights & Ratios
PEG Ratio0.17
Price to Book (P/B)1.14
Price to Sales (P/S)0.49
P/FCF Ratio5.77
Enterprise Value/Market Cap<0.01
Enterprise Value/Revenue<0.01
Enterprise Value/Gross Profit<0.01
Enterprise Value/Ebitda<0.01
Forecast
1Y Price Target
$59.42Price Target Upside33.46% Upside
Rating ConsensusModerate Buy
Number of Analyst Covering13
EPS Forecast (FY)5.99
Revenue Forecast (FY)$10.02B
Celanese Business Overview & Revenue Model
Company Description
Celanese Corporation produces and sells engineered polymers worldwide. It operates through Engineered Materials and Acetyl Chain segments. The company offers ethylene acrylic elastomers, ethylene vinyl acetate pharmaceutical grade copolymers, liqu...
How the Company Makes Money
Celanese makes money primarily by manufacturing and selling (1) engineered polymer materials and (2) chemical intermediates/derivatives, generating revenue through product sales to industrial customers under a mix of contract-based and spot-market...
Celanese Earnings Call Summary
Earnings Call Date:Aug 04, 2026
(Q2-2026)
| % Change Since: |
Next Earnings Date:Nov 09, 2026
Earnings Call Sentiment Positive
The call highlighted meaningful operational resilience: strong pricing execution in Engineered Materials, maintained free cash flow guidance ($700–800M baseline), decisive footprint and cost actions (nylon optimization and Lanaken closure), progress on divestitures and a clear deleveraging path. Offsetting these positives are near-term headwinds including raw material-driven margin compression expected in Q3, notable working capital and inventory absorption impacts (H1 working capital use ~$300M YTD), one-time divestiture and equity-earnings hits (~$35M Micromax, ~$10M Ibn Sina), and elevated corporate costs. Overall, the company preserved guidance and laid out credible multi-year actions to improve margins, cash flow, and leverage, but several material near-term puts-and-takes make H2 results sensitive to commodity and working-capital dynamics.Positive Updates
Engineered Materials pricing and margin expansion
Company executed aggressive price increases in late Q2 that drove margin expansion in Engineered Materials (EM); management expects EM adjusted EBIT to grow in the double-digits for 2026 (closer to ~15%) despite headwinds. Pricing actions positioned the business to offset a portion of rising raw material costs.
Negative Updates
Raw material inflation and H2 margin compression risk
Rising raw material costs are expected to compress margins in H2 — management indicated much of the raw-material-related compression will hit in Q3. Raws have been volatile (down then up), and EM will face some flow-through pressure despite Q2 pricing gains.
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Q2-2026 Updates
Positive
Negative
Engineered Materials pricing and margin expansion
Company executed aggressive price increases in late Q2 that drove margin expansion in Engineered Materials (EM); management expects EM adjusted EBIT to grow in the double-digits for 2026 (closer to ~15%) despite headwinds. Pricing actions positioned the business to offset a portion of rising raw material costs.
Read all positive updates
Company Guidance
Management reiterated the prior ~$6 full‑year EPS framework (citing Q2 at about $2.45) and guided Q3 EPS of $1.35–$1.75, while reiterating free cash flow of $700–$800 million as a baseline sustainable level; working capital used roughly $200 million in Q2 and nearly $300 million YTD but is expected to normalize to about neutral (0 to slightly positive) for the full year. They expect to finish 2026 with net debt around $10 billion (targeting ~$9 billion next year), with leverage crossing ~5x this year, aiming for ~4x next and ~3x long‑term. Key P&L puts and takes include Engineered Materials adjusted EBIT growth in the mid‑to‑high teens (management said “closer to 15%”), a $15 million EM turnaround charge in Q2 (non‑recurring), a ~$35 million adjusted EBIT headwind from the Micromax divestiture, roughly $10 million lower equity earnings (Ibn Sina) hitting Q3, an incremental ~$20 million of AC absorption in H2 related to Lanaken acceleration, and expected annualized cost savings of ~$20–25 million from Lanaken plus ~$30–35 million from nylon/EM footprint actions (with roughly one‑third to one‑half of those savings realized in 2026). Finally, they remain committed to $1 billion of divestitures by end‑2027 (about half completed) and have targeted $80–100 million of incremental cost reductions for 2027; corporate “other activities” ran higher in 1H and were described at roughly a $75 million per‑quarter run‑rate after 2026.Celanese Financial Statement Overview
Summary
Income Statement
28
Negative
Balance Sheet
46
Neutral
Cash Flow
62
Positive
| Breakdown | TTM | Dec 2025 | Dec 2024 | Dec 2023 | Dec 2022 | Dec 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Income Statement | ||||||
| Total Revenue | 9.71B | 9.54B | 10.28B | 10.94B | 9.67B | 8.54B |
| Gross Profit | 1.97B | 1.79B | 2.36B | 2.60B | 2.38B | 2.68B |
| EBITDA | 175.00M | 292.00M | 503.00M | 2.61B | 2.30B | 2.72B |
| Net Income | -1.17B | -1.17B | -1.52B | 1.96B | 1.89B | 1.89B |
Balance Sheet | ||||||
| Total Assets | 21.41B | 21.70B | 22.86B | 26.60B | 26.27B | 11.97B |
| Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments | 1.36B | 1.26B | 962.00M | 1.80B | 1.51B | 546.00M |
| Total Debt | 12.32B | 12.93B | 12.95B | 14.10B | 15.13B | 4.20B |
| Total Liabilities | 16.82B | 17.22B | 17.25B | 19.05B | 20.17B | 7.44B |
| Stockholders Equity | 4.17B | 4.05B | 5.17B | 7.09B | 5.64B | 4.19B |
Cash Flow | ||||||
| Free Cash Flow | 708.00M | 803.00M | 531.00M | 1.33B | 1.28B | 1.29B |
| Operating Cash Flow | 984.00M | 1.15B | 966.00M | 1.90B | 1.82B | 1.76B |
| Investing Cash Flow | 203.00M | -349.00M | -470.00M | -134.00M | -11.14B | -1.12B |
| Financing Cash Flow | -991.00M | -513.00M | -1.31B | -1.46B | 10.29B | -1.04B |
Celanese Technical Analysis
Positive
44.52
Price Trends
45.43
Positive
49.97
Negative
50.98
Negative
Market Momentum
0.24
Negative
55.26
Neutral
79.27
Neutral
Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For CE, the sentiment is Positive. The current price of 44.52 is below the 20-day moving average (MA) of 45.54, below the 50-day MA of 45.43, and below the 200-day MA of 50.98, indicating a neutral trend. The MACD of 0.24 indicates Negative momentum. The RSI at 55.26 is Neutral, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 79.27 is Neutral, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Positive sentiment for CE.
Celanese Risk Analysis
Celanese disclosed 4 risk factors in its most recent earnings report. Celanese reported the most risks in the "Macro & Political" category.
Finance & Corporate - Financial and accounting risks. Risks related to the execution of corporate activity and strategy
Latest Risks Added 0 New Risks
Celanese Peers Comparison
UnderperformOutperform
Sector (61)
Name | Overall Rating | Market Cap | P/E Ratio | ROE | Dividend Yield | Revenue Growth | EPS Growth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
63 Neutral | $9.40B | 12.39 | 7.73% | 8.55% | 17.90% | 95.98% | |
61 Neutral | $10.43B | 7.12 | -0.05% | 2.87% | 2.86% | -36.73% | |
57 Neutral | $17.29B | 277.37 | 0.34% | 1.88% | -34.44% | ― | |
57 Neutral | $21.56B | -16.66 | -6.58% | 4.65% | -1.20% | -30.03% | |
56 Neutral | $5.18B | -4.39 | -28.81% | 0.26% | -2.28% | 27.94% | |
49 Neutral | $1.62B | -9.24 | -6.28% | 3.81% | 0.65% | 45.36% | |
47 Neutral | $1.95B | -13.84 | -7.67% | 4.70% | 0.60% | -920.33% |
* Basic Materials Sector Average
CE
Celanese
46.81
1.44
3.17%
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Celanese Corporate Events
Business Operations and StrategyExecutive/Board Changes
Celanese Appoints Veteran Executive Fernandez-Moreno to Board
Positive
Sep 16, 2026
On September 16, 2026, Celanese Corporation expanded its Board of Directors from 10 to 11 members and elected veteran chemicals executive Luis Fernandez-Moreno as a new independent director, effective that same day. His appointment increases the n...
Business Operations and StrategyPrivate Placements and Financing
Celanese Expands Revolving Credit Capacity and Flexibility
Positive
Aug 4, 2026
On July 31, 2026, Celanese US Holdings LLC amended its revolving credit agreement originally dated August 11, 2025, increasing the consolidated net leverage ratio covenant from the quarter ending March 31, 2027 through maturity to an initial 5.50:...
Business Operations and StrategyFinancial Disclosures
Celanese Schedules Webcast for Q2 2026 Results
Neutral
Aug 4, 2026
On August 5, 2026, Celanese President and CEO Scott A. Richardson is scheduled to present the company’s second-quarter 2026 financial results to investors and analysts via a company-hosted webcast. The event will be supported by a press rele...
Glossary
BuyA stock rated as a "Buy" is expected to perform better than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock is likely to deliver higher returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
HoldA stock rated as a "Hold" is expected to perform in line with the overall market or a specific benchmark. This rating indicates that the stock is neither particularly compelling nor unfavorable for investment. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
SellA stock rated as a "Sell" is expected to perform worse than the overall market or a specific benchmark over the near-to-medium term. This rating suggests the stock may deliver lower returns compared to other stocks in the same sector or market index. Note: This is not investment advice; please consult a financial advisor before making investment decisions.
Disclaimer
This AI Analyst Stock Report is automatically generated by our AI systems using advanced algorithms and publicly available financial, technical, and market data. While the information provided aims to be accurate and insightful, it is intended for informational purposes only and should not be considered financial advice. Any content created by an AI (Artificial Intelligence) system may contain inaccuracies and/or contain errors. Investing in stocks carries inherent risks, and past performance is not indicative of future results. This report does not account for your personal financial circumstances, objectives, or risk tolerance. Always conduct your own research or consult with a qualified financial advisor before making investment decisions. The analysis and recommendations provided are based on historical and current data and may not fully reflect future market conditions or unexpected developments. Neither the creators of this report nor its affiliated entities guarantee the accuracy, completeness, or reliability of the information presented. Use this report at your own discretion and risk.