Investing

DowDuPont Takes Over as Dow's Poorest Performer

Paul Ausick

Published: October 13, 2018 9:10 am

Last Updated: April 27, 2020 8:30 pm

DowDuPont Inc. (NYSE: DWDP) saw its share price dive last week, along with just about every other equity on the market — or so it seemed. The company’s shares dropped 5.6% last week to take the stock down by 16.2% for the year to date.

The second-worst Dow stock so far this year is Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS), which is down 16.1%. That is followed by 3M Co. (NYSE: MMM), down 15.8%, Procter & Gamble Co. (NYSE: PG), down 14%, and Caterpillar Inc. (NYSE: CAT), down 9.8%. Of the 30 Dow stocks, 14 trade lower so far in 2018.

The blue-chip index dropped 1,107 points last week to close at 23,339.99, down 4.2% compared to the previous Friday’s close. For the year to date, the index is up 2.1%, trailing both the S&P 500 (up 2.6%) and the Nasdaq Composite (up 7.0%).

On Thursday the company declared its quarterly dividend payment of $0.38 per share payable December 14 to shareholders of record on November 30. The industrial giant’s dividend yield at Friday’s close is 2.58%.

The materials sector dropped 6.6% last week and trades down about 11% for the year to date. The chemicals industry, which includes DowDuPont, dropped 6.3% last week and is down 7.4% for the year to date. And the chemicals industry is the best performer in the materials sector.

The company also revealed the new logo for what will become the new DuPont sometime next year when DowDuPont carves itself into three publicly traded companies. The specialty products division of DowDuPont will be renamed DuPont and will sport the new logo, a close variant of DuPont’s iconic oval.

DowDuPont’s stock closed at $59.66 on Friday, up about 1.2% for the day, in a 52-week range of $58.81 to $77.08. The 12-month consensus price target on the stock is $80.59 and the forward price-to-earnings ratio is 12.35.