Quaker sees more savings ahead

Article Excerpt

QUAKER CHEMICAL CORP. $249 is still a buy. The company (New York symbol KWR; Income Portfolio, Manufacturing & Industry sector; Shares outstanding: 17.8 million; Market cap: $4.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 4.4; Dividend yield: 0.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.quakerchem.com) completed its acquisition of rival specialty chemicals maker Houghton International in August 2019. It paid Houghton’s owners $170.8 million in cash and a 24.5% stake in the combined company. Quaker now expects the merger will let it cut $58 million from its annual costs by the end of 2020. That’s up from its earlier forecast of $35 million. By the end of 2022, those annual savings should rise to $80 million, which is 33.3% better than its $60 million forecast. Thanks to those savings, the company recently raised its quarterly dividend by 2.6%, to $0.395 a share from $0.385. The stock has jumped nearly 50% since the Houghton acquisition, which is why the new annual dividend rate of $1.58 a share yields just 0.6%. Quaker Chemical is a..