(Reuters) - Dow Chemical Co , the No. 1 U.S. chemical maker by sales, reported a better-than-expected rise in quarterly profit as cost controls helped to boost margins in businesses that make coatings, plastics and crop-protection products.
Margins expanded across most of Dow Chemical's businesses despite a more than $300 million increase in the cost of feedstock and energy, the company said.
Adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization (EBITDA) in Dow Chemical's coatings and infrastructure solutions business rose 20 percent.
EBITDA, excluding some items, rose 9 percent in the company's agricultural sciences business, while performance plastics reported a 5 percent increase on the same basis.
The company's shares were up 1.6 percent at $49.74 in light premarket trading.
Dow Chemical has narrowed its focus to electronics, packaging and agriculture to shield itself from businesses that are more susceptible to volatile swings in commodity prices.
The company, which is pruning its portfolio and discarding non-core assets, raised its asset sales target by up to $2 billion to as much as $6 billion last month.
Hedge fund titan Daniel Loeb's Third Point LLC wants Dow Chemical to spin off its lucrative but slow-growing petrochemical unit and focus on specialty materials.
But the company has resisted the split and has repeatedly said that it wants to use its commoditized raw materials businesses to keep costs down in its high-growth specialty chemicals businesses.
Dow Chemical's net income rose to $964 million, or 79 cents per share, in the first quarter ended March 31, from $550 million, or 46 cents per share, a year earlier.
Analysts on average expected the company to earn 71 cents per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.
Revenue rose 0.5 percent to $14.46 billion, missing the average analyst estimate of $14.72 billion.
Dow Chemical's shares had risen 60 percent in the year to Tuesday's close on the New York Stock Exchange.
(Reporting by Swetha Gopinath in Bangalore; Editing by Don Sebastian)
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