Dow Chemical Misses Estimates as Demand Slumps

Dow Chemical reported a quarterly net loss on Thursday due to large restructuring charges and falling sales of specialty plastics and chlorine.

For the fourth quarter the company posted a net loss of $716 million, or 61 cents per share, compared with a net loss of 20 million, or 2 cents per share, in the year-earlier quarter. Sales fell 1 percent to $13.92 billion.

Dow Chemical took a $990 million charge in the fourth quarter, part of a plan announced in October to lay off 5 percent of its workforce, close 20 plants and write down the value of its underperforming lithium-ion battery business.

The company posted earnings, excluding items, of 33 cents a share, on revenue of $13.2 billion.

Analysts had expected the company to report earnings excluding items of 34 cents a share on $13.7 billion in revenue, according to a consensus estimate from Thomson Reuters.

"The second half the year, the volatility in the markets with the weakness of China and Europe in particular were a big drag," Andrew N. Liveris, Dow's chairman and chief executive officer, said on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

Liveris said the latter part of the quarter improved, while "cash interventions and our productivity measures are going to put us back on our earnings track."

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