Celanese beats by $0.12, beats on revs; guides FY14 EPS above consensus
* Reports Q1 (Mar) earnings of $1.33 per share, excluding non-recurring items, $0.12 better than the Capital IQ Consensus Estimate of $1.21; revenues rose 6.2% year/year to $1.71 bln vs the $1.69 bln consensus.
- During the quarter, the company deployed $53 million of cash on share repurchases and at March 31, 2014 had $347 million remaining under its current share repurchase authorization.
* Co issues upside guidance for FY14, sees EPS of +12-14% (~$5.04-5.13) vs. $4.96 Capital IQ Consensus Estimate. "The hard work of our dedicated global teams delivered a great start to 2014. Our customer-oriented businesses delivered unique, value-added applications to our customers and earnings growth to Celanese. While our technology-enabled businesses focused on strategic initiatives that drove improved operations and margin expansion," said Rohr. "While we have a lot of work ahead of us, our innovation and productivity programs provide us with line-of-sight to 2014 earnings growth of 12 to 14 percent."