Stock Alert: Koppers Holdings Drops 18%

(RTTNews) - Shares of Koppers Holdings Inc. (KOP), a provider of carbon compounds, chemicals, and treated wood products, tanked $6.33 or 18.33% on Tuesday before closing at $28.21. Koppers' preliminary fourth-quarter results were announced yesterday with lower-than estimated earnings and sales.

KOP has been trading in a range of $22.56-$44.75 in the past 52-weeks.

Preliminary adjusted EPS for the quarter was $0.29, compared with $0.60 for the prior-year period. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters are expecting $0.46.

Preliminary sales were $393.2 million for the fourth quarter, a decrease of 7.6 percent, from $425.4 million in the prior-year quarter. Analysts anticipate sales of $416.67 million for the period.

Meanwhile, Koppers Holdings said it has agreed to sell Koppers (Jiangsu) Carbon Chemical Company Limited (KJCC) to Fangda Carbon New Material Co., Ltd. (Fangda Carbon) and C-Chem Co., Ltd, a subsidiary of NIPPON STEEL Chemical & Material Co., Ltd. for $107 million. The company expects to close the deal in approximately four to six months.

Koppers expects to earn approximately $65 million from the transaction, after noncontrolling interest, taxes, and expenses. The company plans to use the cash to pay off debt.

Koppers is scheduled to report its fourth-quarter results on February 27.