Eastman Chemical Eyes 10% 2012 Earnings Growth

Eastman Chemical posted a decline in quarterly profit on Thursday but gave a better-than-expected outlook for the rest of the year, helped by capacity additions and its acquisition of specialty chemical maker Solutia.

Chief Executive Jim Rogers said he expected earnings per share for 2012 of $5.30, or about 10 % growth, leaving out acquisition-related costs as well as other one-off charges. Analysts, on average, had been looking for $4.99 per share.

For the quarter ended March 31, the company posted net income of $158 million, or $1.12 per share, down from $240 million, or $1.66 per share, a year before. Revenue grew 4% to $1.82 billion, compared with an average analyst estimate of nearly $1.86 billion on Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Eastman Chemical, a former unit of Eastman Kodak , announced in January it would buy Solutia for $3.4 billion in cash and stock. The deal for Solutia, which makes parts for Apple's iPad and Amazon.com's Kindle, is part of a plan to improve sluggish growth and focus on Asia-Pacific markets.

The buyout is expected to close by midyear.