WLK to Cease Operations at Select Facilities Amid Challenges

Westlake Corporation WLK announced it has approved a plan to cease operations at three of the North American chlorovinyl production facilities and the Styrene manufacturing unit amid challenging conditions in the global commodities chemicals industry. The closure is expected to take place in December 2025.

The affected facilities include the PVC plant in Aberdeen, MS, the VCM plant in Lake Charles, LA, North site and a diaphragm chlor-alkali unit at Lake Charles, LA, South site. Operations will also cease at its Lake Charles styrene plant.

The seven other North American chlorovinyl facilities will continue supplying customers with PVC, VCM and chlor-alkali products. The company will end up with annual production capacity of approximately 520 million pounds of suspension PVC globally, including 4,900 million pounds in North America, 7,630 million pounds of VCM globally, including 6,050 million pounds in North America and 6,680 million pounds of chlorine and 7,510 million pounds of caustic soda globally, including 5,410 million pounds of chlorine and 6,100 million pounds of caustic soda in North America.

The closures will also result in a workforce reduction of about 295 employees. Westlake expects pre-tax costs of approximately $415 million, mainly from non-cash accelerated depreciation, amortization and asset write-offs, along with employee severance and other shutdown costs. Most of these costs are expected to be recognized in the fourth quarter of 2025.

Westlake Corporation Price and Consensus

Westlake Corporation price-consensus-chart | Westlake Corporation Quote

WLK’s Zacks Rank & Key Picks

WLK currently carries a Zacks Rank #4 (Sell).

Some better-ranked stocks in the Basic Materials space are Kinross Gold Corporation KGC, Fortuna Mining Corp. FSM and Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited HMY.

At present, KGC sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), while FSM and HMY carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) each. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for KGC’s current-year earnings is pegged at $1.67 per share, indicating a rise of 145.59%. Its earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in three of the trailing four quarters while missing once, with an average surprise of 17.37%. KGC shares have gained 196.5% over the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for FSM’s current fiscal-year earnings is pinned at 76 cents per share, indicating a 65.22% year-over-year increase. Its shares have surged 108.3% over the past year.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for HMY’s 2026 earnings is pegged at $2.68 per share, indicating a 132.1% year-over-year increase. HMY shares have gained 134.6% over the past year.

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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