Celanese Corporation

Celanese is a chemical and specialty materials company based in Irving, Texas. It sells materials to other manufacturers, mostly large companies across many industries. It makes money on the gap between what it pays for raw materials such as methanol, ethylene and natural gas and what it charges for finished products. Its gross margin, the share of sales left after direct production costs, was 20.5% in fiscal 2025, on revenue of $9.54 billion.

Engineered Materials, the bigger segment, brought in $5.39 billion, about 56% of revenue. It makes high-performance plastics sold under brands such as Celcon and Hostaform (polyacetal), Zytel (nylon) and GUR (ultra-high molecular weight polyethylene). These go into car parts, electronics, appliances, medical devices and battery separators. The segment grows through projects: Celanese works with customers such as carmakers and their suppliers to design materials for specific parts. The Acetyl Chain segment brought in $4.23 billion, about 44%. It makes acetyl products, which are intermediate chemicals (ingredients other companies use to make their own products) used in nearly all major industries. Celanese calls itself one of the world's largest producers.

In fiscal 2025 the U.S. accounted for 27% of revenue, Switzerland 26%, China 19%, Germany 8% and Singapore 7%. The company lists 51 production sites, plus 20 at partly owned affiliates, and had 11,434 employees as of December 31, 2025.

• In Q2 FY2026 (ended Jun 30, 2026), revenue was $2.75B, up 8.7% from a year earlier, and net income was $125.0M (-36.5%).
• For fiscal 2025, revenue was $9.54B (-7.1% year over year; +11.0% a year from FY2020 to FY2025) with a -12.2% net margin.

• Over FY2021–FY2025: $1.02B in buybacks and $1.23B in dividends.
• Regular dividends per share grew -45.5% a year over 5 years (FY2020–FY2025).
• Shares outstanding changed +0.8% from Oct 15, 2021 to Aug 3, 2026.

Rank among 1514 US companies

Market value at each year end

Celanese’s market value went from $11.28B at the end of 2016 to $5.36B on Oct 28, 2026, down 52%; since the end of 2025 it is up 16%.

Form 4 filings from 2025-11-03 to 2026-11-03 (25 read): 5 open-market purchases ($230K) and 0 sales ($0.00).

Large shareholders (13G filings)

ETFs with the most weight in CE

1. A heavy debt load. Total debt was $12.1 billion against $1.36 billion of cash and investments as of June 30, 2026. The 10-K warns that the debt limits flexibility and that further credit-rating downgrades could raise interest costs.
2. The DuPont deal may fall short. Celanese acquired DuPont's Mobility & Materials business. The 10-K warns that expected savings and growth may not arrive. It also flags possible further write-downs of goodwill, the premium paid for acquired businesses.
3. Swings in raw material and energy costs. Key inputs include ethylene, methanol, natural gas, carbon monoxide, wood pulp and ingredients for nylon. If their prices jump and Celanese cannot pass the increases on to customers, profit margins shrink.
4. Cost cuts and pricing pressure. Celanese has planned cost reductions but faces price competition and rival products. Missing its planned savings or losing pricing power would hurt earnings, which were net losses in fiscal 2024 and 2025.
5. Dependence on cyclical customer industries. The 10-K singles out business cycles in the automotive, electrical, textiles, electronics and construction industries. Long or deep downturns in these customers' markets can cut sales volumes and squeeze profits.
6. Tariffs, trade rules and global conflicts. Only 27% of fiscal 2025 revenue was attributed to the U.S., and 19% came from China. Tariffs and trade duties, currency swings and conflicts such as Russia-Ukraine can disrupt sales and supplies.

• Nov 2, 2026 Investor presentation or announcement
• Nov 2, 2026 Quarterly results released
• Sep 16, 2026 Executive or board change
• Aug 4, 2026 Investor presentation or announcement
• Aug 4, 2026 Quarterly results released
• Aug 4, 2026 Major agreement signed; New debt or financial obligation
• Jun 10, 2026 Other company announcement
• May 5, 2026 Investor presentation or announcement
• May 5, 2026 Quarterly results released
• Apr 20, 2026 Executive or board change

Celanese pays only a small dividend. Dividends per share rose every year from fiscal 2020 to fiscal 2024, reaching about $2.81. They then fell to about $0.12 in fiscal 2025, a year with a $1.17 billion net loss. The yield was 0.25% as of October 28, 2026. That payout used just 1.6% of fiscal 2025 free cash flow (cash left after running and investing in the business) as the company works to reduce its debt. Buybacks totaled about $1.0 billion over fiscal 2021–2025, almost all in 2021.

The shares have fallen hard in downturns. They dropped 84.9% in the 2008 financial crisis and took about 26 months from the low to recover. They fell 45.7% in the 2020 COVID crash and recovered in about six months. In the 2022 bear market they fell 48.7% and took about 18 months to recover. With so little income, returns depend almost entirely on the share price. A single stock carries more risk than a diversified fund.