Arkema (OTCMKTS:ARKAY) Rating Lowered to Strong Sell at Kepler Capital Markets

Key Points

• Kepler Capital Markets downgraded Arkema from a "hold" to a strong sell in a research note.
• Despite that downgrade, the consensus rating across analysts remains Hold (2 Buy, 5 Hold, 2 Sell).
• Arkema slightly beat Q1 estimates (EPS $1.01 vs. $0.91; revenue $2.57B vs. $2.52B) but shows a very low net margin (0.46%) and a high P/E (~290), and its shares fell about 4.1%.

Arkema (OTCMKTS:ARKAY - Get Free Report) was downgraded by investment analysts at Kepler Capital Markets from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research analysts also recently weighed in on ARKAY. Berenberg Bank downgraded Arkema from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Zacks Research upgraded Arkema from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. Sanford C. Bernstein upgraded Arkema from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "hold" rating on shares of Arkema in a report on Thursday, April 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded Arkema from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 10th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold".

Arkema Stock Down 4.1%

Shares of OTCMKTS:ARKAY opened at $72.45 on Thursday. Arkema has a 1 year low of $56.28 and a 1 year high of $79.36. The company has a market cap of $5.51 billion, a PE ratio of 289.80 and a beta of 0.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 2.13 and a quick ratio of 1.63. The stock's 50-day moving average is $67.95 and its 200 day moving average is $64.26.

Arkema (OTCMKTS:ARKAY - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The basic materials company reported $1.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.10. Arkema had a return on equity of 4.06% and a net margin of 0.46%.The firm had revenue of $2.57 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $2.52 billion. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Arkema will post 3.79 EPS for the current year.

Arkema Company Profile

Arkema SA is a global specialty chemicals and advanced materials company headquartered in Colombes, France. Established in 2004 as a spin-off from Total's chemicals division, the company offers a broad portfolio of high-performance materials designed to improve durability, thermal and chemical resistance, and environmental performance across diverse industries.

Arkema's operations are organized into four core segments. Adhesive Solutions delivers bonding, sealing, and coating technologies for markets such as packaging, medical devices, and consumer goods.

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