Koppers Holdings: Beating the tar out of estimates

Specialty chemicals company Koppers Holdings (NYSE:KOP) is feeding off of the commodities boom.

The company markets carbon compounds and commercial wood treatment products to customers in the aluminum, railroad, specialty chemical, utility, rubber and steel industries. Just as several of these industries have been hitting their stride in recent quarters, so has Koppers.

At a market cap of $1 billion, the Pittsburgh-based company is coming off a strong first-quarter in which it experienced double-digit sales growth and set itself up for a strong second-half of 2008. Longtime shareholders in the company have reaped the benefits of the company’s consistent performance.

Koppers had its initial public offering in February 2006 and has seen its stock price more than double over the course of the past two years. This success has been driven by a diverse portfolio of products that are supplied to a global customer base.

The company runs two principal business segments: carbon materials and chemicals, and railroad and utility products. In 2007, the carbon materials and chemicals business accounted for approximately two-thirds of Koppers’ net sales while the railroad and utility products segment made up the remaining third.

The carbon materials and chemicals business segment allows Koppers to serve as one of the world’s largest distillers of coal tar, which is processed into an assortment of products that serve as key inputs in the production of aluminum and the pressure treatment of wood. The railroad and utility segment focuses its efforts around functioning as one of the largest suppliers of railroad crossties in North America.

Koppers’ impressive growth was highlighted when its first-quarter results, reported on May 8, clocked in with a 26% pop in EPS on a 13% surge in sales on a year-over-year basis. The carbon materials and chemicals segment turned in an especially strong quarter as its sales rose by 28% versus the year-ago . . .

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