Cabot Corp Reports Third Quarter Fiscal 2025 Results

BOSTON, Aug. 04, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Cabot Corporation (NYSE: CBT) today announced results for its third quarter of fiscal year 2025.

Q3 FY25 Key Highlights

• Diluted EPS of $1.86 and Adjusted EPS of $1.90, which represents a 1% decrease in Adjusted EPS compared to the same quarter in the prior year

• Reinforcement Materials segment EBIT of $128 million; down 6% compared to the same quarter in the prior year
• Performance Chemicals segment EBIT of $57 million; up 4% compared to the same quarter in the prior year
• Returned $64 million of cash to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases
• Awarded Platinum rating from EcoVadis for exceptional leadership in sustainability performance for the fifth consecutive year

Sean Keohane, Cabot President and Chief Executive Officer commented: “Despite a challenging demand environment, I am pleased with our third quarter financial performance as we delivered Adjusted Earnings Per Share of $1.90. This strong financial performance is a testament to our team’s disciplined execution in a highly dynamic environment. We remain focused on managing pricing and costs and leveraging our global footprint to adeptly respond to uncertainty from tariffs and a weaker global macroeconomic environment. EBIT in our Reinforcement Materials segment declined $8 million, or 6%, and EBIT in our Performance Materials segment increased by $2 million, or 4%. Both segments continue to manage through a challenging demand environment through optimization and cost management efforts.”

Keohane continued, “During the third quarter, we delivered strong operating cash flow of $249 million and returned $64 million of cash to our shareholders through $24 million in dividends and $40 million in share repurchases. Furthermore, our balance sheet strength is reflected in our Net Debt to EBITDA ratio of 1.3x and liquidity of $1.4 billion.”

Financial Detail For the third quarter of fiscal 2025, net income attributable to Cabot Corporation was $101 million ($1.86 per diluted common share). Net income reflects an after-tax per share charge from certain items of $0.04. Adjusted EPS for the third quarter of fiscal 2025 was $1.90 per share.

Segment Results

Reinforcement Materials – Third quarter fiscal 2025 EBIT in Reinforcement Materials decreased by $8 million compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2024. The decrease in EBIT was primarily driven by lower volumes in Asia Pacific and the Americas.

Global and regional volume changes for Reinforcement Materials for the third quarter of fiscal 2025 as compared to the same quarter of the prior year are set forth in the table below:

Performance Chemicals – Third quarter fiscal 2025 EBIT in Performance Chemicals increased by $2 million compared to the third quarter of fiscal 2024 primarily due to higher gross profit per ton, partially offset by 8% lower volumes. The higher gross profit per ton was primarily due to cost savings measures and optimization initiatives across the segment. The lower volumes were due to lower customer demand driven by uncertainty from tariffs and a weaker global macroeconomic environment, particularly in auto-related applications.

Cash Performance – The Company ended the third quarter of fiscal 2025 with a cash balance of $239 million. During the third quarter of fiscal 2025, cash flows from operating activities were a source of $249 million. Capital expenditures for the third quarter of fiscal 2025 were $61 million. Additional uses of cash during the third quarter included $24 million for the payment of dividends and $40 million for share repurchases.

Taxes – During the third quarter of fiscal 2025, the Company recorded a tax expense of $43 million with an effective tax rate of 28%. Our operating tax rate for fiscal 2025 is expected to be in the range of 27% to 29%.

Outlook Commenting on the outlook for the Company, Keohane said, “We are reaffirming the range of our Adjusted Earnings Per Share guidance for fiscal 2025 of $7.15 to $7.50. As expected, customer demand is being impacted by the uncertainty around tariffs and the global macro-economic environment, and this is translating into lower volumes in the second half of fiscal 2025 in both our Reinforcement Materials and Performance Chemicals segments. At current demand levels, we would expect to be in the middle to lower end of the range. If the more recent announcements on tariffs were to translate into higher demand in the fourth fiscal quarter, we would expect to be higher in the guidance range.”

Keohane continued, “Despite the challenges brought on by the current macro-economic environment, we expect to deliver earnings growth in the fiscal year and strong operating cash flow. We remain focused on reducing costs, optimizing across our network and driving disciplined commercial execution. Our strong cash flow and balance sheet allows us to invest in strategic growth projects and return capital to shareholders. While the current economic environment is weaker than we expected at the beginning of our fiscal year, I am pleased with how the Cabot team is responding to this challenging environment.” …

Source: Cabot