Lyb Q2 Earnings & Sales Beat As Market Recovery Boosts Margins

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. LYB reported second-quarter 2026 net income of $559 million, or $1.71 per share, up sharply from $115 million or 34 cents per share reported in the year-ago quarter.  

Barring one-time items, LyondellBasell posted adjusted earnings of $4.30 per share, up from the year-ago quarter’s earnings of 62 cents. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $3.56.  

The company’s net sales in the reported quarter were $9.18 billion, up from $7.66 billion in the year-ago quarter. The figure also surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $8.9 billion by 3.1%.  

LyondellBasell benefited from improved market conditions during the quarter, as global supply disruptions supported margin expansion across its businesses. Higher operating rates, disciplined commercial execution and stronger polymer spreads drove results, while portfolio optimization through the divestiture of select European assets and continued progress under the Cash Improvement Plan strengthened its cost position.  

LyondellBasell Industries N.V. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Segment Highlights

The Olefins & Polyolefins — Americas segment generated revenues of $3.52 billion, up around 18.7% year over year. The figure beat the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. Results improved on expanding polymer margins, favorable co-product pricing from tighter global supply and approximately 90% operating rates at the company's North American assets.  

Olefins & Polyolefins — Europe, Asia and International revenues increased around 17.4% year over year to $2.96 billion. The figure missed the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion. The segment benefited from improved polymer spreads driven by supply-chain disruptions and stronger joint venture contributions.  

In the Intermediates and Derivatives (I&D) segment, sales were $2.75 billion, up roughly 14.8% year over year, exceeding the consensus estimate of $2.61 billion. Earnings improved on stronger oxyfuels, methanol and PO derivatives margins, partly offset by the unplanned Bayport PO/TBA outage. The Bayport facility was restarted in June and exited the quarter at full operating rates.  

The Advanced Polymer Solutions segment’s revenues were $1.01 billion, increasing around 8.6% year over year and topping the consensus estimate of $973 million.  

The Technology segment’s revenues were $167 million, surging around 40.3% year over year and beating the consensus estimate of $163 million.  

Financials

LyondellBasell ended the quarter with $2.63 billion in cash and cash equivalents and total available liquidity of $7.1 billion. During the quarter, it generated $752 million in cash from operating activities, spent $270 million on capital expenditures and returned $224 million to shareholders through dividends.  

Outlook

LyondellBasell expects geopolitical tensions in the Middle East to keep energy and petrochemical markets volatile, with uncertainty surrounding the timing of supply normalization potentially extending into 2027. The company anticipates volume gains from the restart of the Bayport PO/TBA facility, although planned maintenance at the Clinton facility will weigh on polyolefins volumes in the second half. Management remains focused on commercial agility, disciplined capital allocation and executing its Cash Improvement Plan while strengthening the balance sheet through continued deleveraging.

LYB’s Price Performance 

LYB's shares are up 13.1% in the past year compared with the Zacks Chemicals Diversified industry’s 8.1% rise. 

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LYB’s Zacks Rank & Key Picks

LYB currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Some better-ranked stocks in the Basic Materials space are The Chemours Company CC, Neo Performance Materials Inc. NOPMF and Lundin Mining Corporation LUNMF.

Chemours is scheduled to report second-quarter results on Aug. 4. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for CC’s second-quarter earnings is pegged at 43 cents per share. It carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) at present. 

NOPMF is slated to report second-quarter results on Aug. 11. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings is pegged at 5 cents per share. NOPMF has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) at present. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Lundin Mining is scheduled to report second-quarter results on Aug. 5. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for LUNMF’s second-quarter earnings is pegged at 34 cents per share. It currently carries a Zacks Rank #2. 

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