LSB Industries Inc. (LXU)

[Enterprising Investor]

Some short covering may be in process.

[r clarke]

Kind of a mixed ER, why the 30% jump today?

[Book Em Dan O]

LXU heading to 15.00?

[Enterprising Investor]

LSB Industries, Inc. Reports Operating Results for the 2015 Fourth Quarter


El Dorado Ammonia Plant Remains on Track to be in Production Early in Second Quarter of 2016

Provides Chemical Business Product Volume Guidance for Full Year 2016

OKLAHOMA CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LSB Industries, Inc. (“LSB”) (NYSE:LXU) today announced results for the fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2015.

Financial Highlights of Fourth Quarter 2015 Compared to Fourth Quarter 2014

• Net sales decreased 16% to $157.0 million compared to $187.3 million.

• Adjusted operating loss was $8.9 million compared to operating income of $4.9 million.

• Adjusted EBITDA was $1.9 million compared to $14.4 million. Adjusted net loss applicable to common shareholders was $5.2 million, or $0.23 loss per diluted share compared to net income applicable to common shareholders of $0.7 million, or $0.03 per diluted share.

Financial Highlights of Full Year 2015 Compared to Full Year 2014

• Net sales decreased 6.5% to $711.8 million compared to $761.2 million.

• Adjusted operating loss was $5.6 million compared to operating income of $25.4 million.

• Adjusted EBITDA was $36.5 million compared to $61.8 million. Adjusted net loss applicable to common shareholders was $6.8 million or $0.30 loss per diluted share compared to adjusted net income applicable to common shareholders of $2.1 million, or $0.09 per diluted share.

“Our fourth quarter fell short of our expectations,” stated Dan Greenwell, LSB’s President and CEO. “Results for our Chemical Business were weaker than the fourth quarter of 2014 due to unplanned downtime at our Pryor Facility, lower sales of ammonium nitrate to the mining sector and lower selling prices for agricultural chemicals, which were down approximately 16% compared to the prior year period. Looking at the current year, fertilizer prices appear to have stabilized, and we believe that, due to the contracted fall fertilizer application season, demand for fertilizers will be stronger this spring and pricing will firm up from current levels.

“Additionally, we were disappointed with the unplanned outage at our Cherokee Facility. Cherokee operated efficiently and consistently during 2015, with the exception of two weeks in December, and its ammonia plant operated at an on-stream rate of 94% for the full year of 2015. We are continuing to take positive steps with equipment replacement and upgrades at both the Pryor and Cherokee plants to increase on-stream rates in 2016.

“On the subject of our El Dorado Facility, as we’ve previously announced, we began operating our new nitric acid plant and concentrator in the second and fourth quarters of 2015, respectively, and attained a significant milestone by achieving mechanical completion of a new 375,000 ton per year ammonia plant within the last several weeks. The ammonia plant is currently in its commissioning phase, and we plan to begin producing ammonia early in the second quarter of 2016. We expect the total cost of the El Dorado Expansion Project remain within the previously announced range of $831 million to $855 million. We continue to expect that this expansion will have a transformative impact on the profitability of our Chemical Business and LSB overall in the coming quarters and years.

“Turning to our Climate Control Business, while sales were down slightly, reflecting continuing weakness in demand for residential heat pumps, fourth quarter bookings and year-end 2015 backlog were up versus last year, pointing to the continued gradual recovery in our commercial and institutional end markets. Most encouraging was the 50 basis points of gross margin expansion generated by Climate Control in the quarter. This improved margin was the result of the operational excellence initiatives we have been implementing over the past several quarters, which included managerial enhancements, labor productivity improvements and cost reductions, and we expect further improvement throughout 2016.”

Mr. Greenwell concluded, “We have much left to accomplish to deliver the level of financial performance I believe that LSB is capable of generating. Over the past twelve months, the organization has undergone substantial changes and worked its way through a number of challenges and distractions. In 2016 our attention will be set squarely on execution of our strategic plan with the startup of the El Dorado ammonia plant and a focus on improving the reliability of our Chemical facilities, along with growing sales and improving the margins of our Climate Control Business. Additionally, we believe that the stronger profitability and cash flow we expect to generate, will give us opportunities to improve our overall capitalization and liquidity. As a result, we think we are well positioned to deliver greater value to our shareholders in the coming year.”

[tables deleted]

Chemical Business Fourth Quarter 2015 Compared to Fourth Quarter 2014:

Comparison of 2015 to 2014 periods:

• Net sales of agricultural products decreased primarily due to lower product selling prices as indicated in the table below. During the fourth quarter of 2015, the Pryor Facility experienced 46 days of unplanned downtime in the Urea plant coupled with a 14 day unplanned outage in the ammonia plant at the Cherokee Facility. During the fourth quarter of 2014, the Cherokee plant experienced an unplanned outage in the ammonia plant which lasted approximately 33 days. Sales of mining products declined due to the expiration of our take-or-pay contract with Orica in April 2015, and overall softening in the coal markets. A decrease in sales of industrial products was the result of lower ammonia prices passed through to contractual customers, partially offset by higher volumes.

• Operating income and EBITDA declined primarily as a result of the aforementioned weaker selling prices, partially offset by the cost of natural gas at our Cherokee and Pryor facilities. The El Dorado Facility experienced lower fixed cost absorption as a result of the decreased production and sales of low density AN attributable to the Orica contract. Additionally, the lower on-stream production rate at the Pryor and Cherokee facilities translated into lost sales and reduced absorption of fixed overhead costs. The El Dorado Facility produces agricultural grade AN, nitric acid and industrial grade AN from purchased ammonia, which is currently at a cost disadvantage compared to products produced from natural gas. This cost disadvantage, along with the impact from the loss of Orica and certain additional expenses related to the El Dorado Expansion projects, resulted in an EBITDA loss for the facility during the 2015 period of approximately $11.6 million compared to an EBITDA loss of approximately $5.9 million in fourth quarter 2014.

Climate Control Business Fourth Quarter 2015 Compared to Fourth Quarter 2014:

Comparison of 2015 to 2014 periods:

• Net sales decreased primarily due to lower volumes and selling prices for heat pumps for residential applications and, to a lesser extent, lower volumes of fan coils. These declines were partially offset by higher sales of our custom air handlers reflecting the increased order levels in the fourth quarter of 2014 and first quarter of 2015.

• Operating income and EBITDA increased despite the lower sales as a result of material and productivity savings generated by the implementation of operational efficiency initiatives.

• New orders for Climate Control products were $58.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2015, up slightly from the fourth quarter of 2014. For the full year of 2015, new orders of $260.5 million decreased approximately 6% as compared to 2014. New orders from the commercial end-markets were down 5% from 2014, while residential product new orders declined 17% on a full year basis. Backlog of $67.1 million as of December 31, 2015 increased approximately 3% over year-end 2014 levels and was 6% lower than backlog at September 30, 2015.

Financial Position and Capital Additions

As of December 31, 2015, our total cash and investments were $127.3 million, including short-term investments.

Total long-term debt, including current portion was $520.4 million at December 31, 2015 compared to $450.9 million at December 31, 2014 and our Working Capital Revolver Loan at December 31, 2015 was undrawn (borrowing availability, which is tied in to eligible accounts receivable and inventories, was $64.4 million at December 31, 2015). Interest expense, net of capitalized interest, for the fourth quarter of 2015 was $0.9 million compared to $4.1 million for the same period in 2014. Additionally, in December 2015 the Company issued $210 million of preferred stock with an aggregate liquidation preference of $212.3 million, inclusive of accrued dividends at December 31, 2015.

Capital additions were $146.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2015, including $140.8 million relating to the expansion projects at our El Dorado Facility. Planned capital additions for 2016, in the aggregate, are estimated to range from $174 million to $210 million, including $126 million to $150 million remaining for the full-year on the El Dorado expansion project. Some of the 2016 planned capital additions, not related to the El Dorado expansion project, may be deferred should we need to do so.

Conference Call

LSB’s management will host a conference call covering the fourth quarter results on Tuesday, March 1, 2016 at 10:00 am ET/9:00 am CT to discuss these results and recent corporate developments. Participating in the call will CEO, Dan Greenwell and Executive Vice President and CFO, Mark Behrman. Interested parties may participate in the call by dialing [phone]. Please call in 10 minutes before the conference is scheduled to begin and ask for the LSB conference call. To coincide with the conference call, LSB will post a slide presentation at www.lsbindustries.com on the webcast section of Investor Info tab.

To listen to a webcast of the call, please go to the Company’s website at www.lsbindustries.com at least 15 minutes prior to the conference call to download and install any necessary audio software. If you are unable to listen live, the conference call webcast will be archived on the Company’s website. We suggest listeners use Microsoft Explorer as their web browser.

LSB Industries, Inc.

LSB is a manufacturing and marketing company. LSB’s principal business activities consist of the manufacture and sale of chemical products for the agricultural, mining and industrial markets; and, the manufacture and sale of commercial and residential climate control products, such as water source and geothermal heat pumps, hydronic fan coils, modular geothermal and other chillers and large custom air handlers.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160229006939/en/LSB-Industries-Reports-Operating-Results-2015-Fourth

[Enterprising Investor]

LSB Industries, Inc. Announces the Mechanical Completion of Its El Dorado, Arkansas Facility’s Ammonia Plant; Production Expected to Begin Early Second Quarter 2016 (2/16/16)

OKLAHOMA CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LSB Industries, Inc. (NYSE:LXU) (“LSB or the Company”) today announced that the new 375,000 ton ammonia plant at its El Dorado, Arkansas facility (“El Dorado”) is now mechanically complete. The Company defines mechanical completion as it relates to the El Dorado ammonia plant as having concluded the installation of process vessels and rotating equipment, including associated piping and valves. Additionally, utility equipment systems such as cooling water, steam generation, raw water treatment, and air systems, along with related piping, have been installed.

Currently, all that remains to fully complete construction activities at the El Dorado ammonia plant is the connection of the electronic instrumentation wiring to the field instruments, along with the painting and insulation of the piping and process vessels, and the final grading and concrete containment for proper drainage of the process area.

As of January 31, 2016, LSB’s investment in its El Dorado Expansion Project (“EDC expansion project”), which along with the ammonia plant, includes the construction of a new nitric acid plant and concentrator that was completed in 2015, totaled approximately $730 million. The Company expects the remaining expenditures necessary to complete the pre-commissioning and commissioning of the ammonia plant and to put it into production to be in the range of $101 million to $125 million. Pre-commissioning will involve the flushing of any materials from the piping throughout the plant, in addition to the installation of the process catalyst inside the reactor vessels. The commissioning phase will entail the activation and filling of the utility systems, reduction of process catalyst, and final testing of process control systems.

“Mechanical completion represents one of the final critical phases in our EDC expansion project,” stated Daniel Greenwell, LSB’s Chief Executive Officer. “We were able to achieve mechanical completion in the timeframe that we outlined in September of last year, and we continue to expect ammonia production at El Dorado to begin early in the second quarter of 2016. We also expect that the cost of the project will not exceed the budget of $831 million - $855 million that we have previously disclosed. We believe that the ammonia plant will significantly enhance the financial performance of the El Dorado Facility and have a positive economic impact to LSB’s overall performance. We look forward to sharing these results with our shareholders in the upcoming quarters.”

About LSB Industries, Inc.

LSB is a manufacturing company. LSB’s principal business activities consist of the manufacture and sale of chemical products for the agricultural, mining, and industrial markets, and the manufacture and sale of commercial and residential climate control products, such as water source and geothermal heat pumps, hydronic fan coils, modular chillers, large custom air handlers and make-up air units.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160216005598/en/LSB-Industries-Announces-Mechanical-Completion-El-Dorado

[arpro]

Wow nice move Friday, I believe it will go above 8 this week

[arpro]

I think we hit the bottom, other fertilizer stocks are also up today.

[arpro]

what does the future look like for LXU?

[arpro]

[Dittak]

Down before up. 26 feb is the next date to watch. Earnings report and news on completion of the el dorado expansion.

[arpro]

Where is this pos headed?
Anyone

[Enterprising Investor]

LSB Industries, Inc. Announces That Its Pryor, Oklahoma Facility Resumes Production (1/20/16)

Reaffirms Schedule and Budget for El Dorado, Arkansas Facility Expansion Project

Michael Foster to Replace David Shear as Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary

OKLAHOMA CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LSB Industries, Inc. (NYSE:LXU) (“LSB or the Company”) today announced that its Pryor, Oklahoma chemical facility (“Pryor Facility” or “Pryor”) was fully operational and began producing all products on January 17, 2016. As announced on December 27, 2015, both Pryor’s urea and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) plants were taken down when the facility’s production of nitric acid (a component of UAN) had to be halted in order to repair a leaking joint in that plant.

LSB also provided an update on the status of the expansion project at its El Dorado, Arkansas facility (“EDC expansion”). As previously announced, the new nitric acid plant and concentrator are in production. The 375,000 ton per year ammonia plant remains on schedule to be mechanically complete in February of 2016 with ammonia production beginning early in the second quarter of 2016. As of January 10, 2016, the ammonia plant was approximately 93% mechanically complete and the cost estimate to complete the EDC expansion remained in the $831 million to $855 million range, as articulated in LSB’s third quarter 2015 earnings press release on November 6, 2015.

Additionally, LSB announced that Michael Foster has been appointed Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary effective January 5, 2016. Mr. Foster assumes the role from David Shear, who has resigned to pursue personal interests.

About Michael Foster

Mr. Foster was in the private practice of law since October 2014. Prior to that he served as the Senior Vice President, General Counsel and Secretary for Tronox (NYSE:TROX), a global mining and manufacturing firm. While General Counsel for Tronox, Mike led the company in its successful Chapter 11 restructuring, including the settlement of tort and environmental liabilities valued in excess of $5 billion. He subsequently led Tronox in a merger with a South African joint venture partner and the resulting tax inversion and re-listing of Tronox Limited on the NYSE. Before taking the reigns as the Tronox General Counsel, Mike served as its Managing Counsel where he led the operations of the Tronox legal team and handled commercial and corporate legal matters following its spin-off from Kerr-McGee Corporation (NYSE:KMG). Prior to the Tronox spin-off, Mike served as a member of the Kerr-McGee legal team where he provided corporate and commercial support to the energy and chemical company, including advising on international acquisitions and divestitures and related finance transactions. His earlier experience includes nearly five years in the midstream energy industry with CMS Field Services Inc. and Enogex Inc., and more than five years in the public and private practice of law. Mr. Foster is a graduate of the University of Tulsa College of Law and the University of Illinois.

About LSB Industries, Inc.

LSB is a manufacturing company. LSB’s principal business activities consist of the manufacture and sale of chemical products for the agricultural, mining, and industrial markets, and the manufacture and sale of commercial and residential climate control products, such as water source and geothermal heat pumps, hydronic fan coils, modular chillers, large custom air handlers and make-up air units.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160120005462/en/LSB-Industries-Announces-Pryor-Oklahoma-Facility-Resumes

[Enterprising Investor]

LSB Industries, Inc. Provides Update on the Status of Its Cherokee, Alabama and Pryor, Oklahoma Facilities (12/30/15)

OKLAHOMA CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--LSB Industries, Inc. (NYSE:LXU) (“LSB or the Company”) today announced that the ammonia plant at its Cherokee, Alabama chemical facility (“Cherokee Facility” or “Cherokee”) resumed production on December 24, 2015. On December 17, 2015 the Company announced that the plant had been taken out of service for unplanned maintenance on December 11, 2015 due to a small leak that was detected in a vessel containing hydrogen. LSB management estimates that this unplanned outage will reduce operating income by approximately $2.5 million to $3.0 million. Approximately half of the financial impact is expected to be reflected in LSB’s fourth quarter 2015 results because of repair costs, lost sales and reduced absorption of fixed costs, with the balance being realized in the first quarter of 2016 due to lost sales as the Cherokee Facility rebuilds its product inventory.

LSB also announced that its Pryor, Oklahoma chemical facility (“Pryor Facility” or “Pryor”) remains under repair. As announced on December 17, 2015, Pryor’s urea plant was taken out of service on November 14, 2015 in order to repair a CO2 pre-compressor, which was completed and the plant restarted on December 21, 2015. However, on December 27, 2015 both Pryor’s urea and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) plants were taken down when the facility’s production of nitric acid (a component of UAN) had to be halted in order to repair a leaking joint in Pryor’s nitric acid plant. The completion of the nitric acid plant repairs and the resumption of urea and UAN production are expected to occur within the next ten days. In the interim, Pryor has been transporting a portion of its ammonia production to the El Dorado Facility for use in the production of low and high density ammonium nitrate (LDAN/HDAN). Management now expects that the lost sales volume of UAN (see table below), coupled with the cost of repairs and reduced absorption of fixed costs is expected to lower fourth quarter 2015 operating income by approximately $3.5 million to $4.0 million. Approximately $1.0 million of this lost operating income is expected to be recovered in the first quarter of 2016 from the sale of surplus ammonia produced in the fourth quarter of 2015 that could not be used to produce urea and then upgraded to UAN.

As a result of the unplanned downtime at Cherokee and Pryor, LSB’s expectations for its Chemical Business fourth quarter 2015 sales volumes, as compared to the outlook the Company provided in its November 6, 2015 earnings announcement, are as follows:

[tables deleted]

About LSB Industries, Inc.

LSB is a manufacturing company. LSB’s principal business activities consist of the manufacture and sale of chemical products for the agricultural, mining, and industrial markets, and the manufacture and sale of commercial and residential climate control products, such as water source and geothermal heat pumps, hydronic fan coils, modular chillers, large custom air handlers and make-up air units.

http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20151230005067/en/LSB-Industries-Update-Status-Cherokee-Alabama-Pryor

[Im_all_in2]

Expecting 300% gains from here by the end of 2016. The markets largely over-reacted creating a great buying opportunity and a relatively safe play here.

[magness]

worst case is ~20% dilution

and the company has the option to redeem the preferred stock and warrants at any time, which they said on the conference call if the cash flows from the El Dorado facility are what they expect, they should be able to redeem early. So not sure a 45%+ decline is warranted here

[magness]

CLOSES OVER $10 TODAY

[altruism]

LXU halted http://nasdaqtrader.com/Trader.aspx?id=TradeHalts

[Penny Roger$]

$LXU ~ article here:

Geothermal Heat Pumps: The Next Generation
new more efficient geothermal heat pumps LSB Industries LXU Barry Golson Waterfurnace Trilogy 40 Q-mode Waterfurnace TSC:WFI OTC:WFIFF technical
Today 07:58 AM


~~News prior to and or released on 05-25-2012~~


http://www.forbes.com/sites/tomkonrad/2012/05/25/geothermal-heat-pumps-the-next-generation/?feed=rss_home

Geothermal Heat Pumps: The Next Generation


The most efficient way to heat and cool a building just got more efficient.

Climatemaster, a division of LSB Industries (NYSE:LXU), recently announced that their new Trilogy 40 geothermal heat pump (GHP) had been certified by the Air Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) to exceed 40 Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) under ground loop conditions.

EER is the ratio of effective cooling (heat removed) to the energy used, at maximal load, and is the standard measure of cooling effectiveness for geothermal heat pumps. A quick perusal of the list of Energy Star qualified GHPs shows just how big a leap this is: the highest EER rating currently available is 30, and many Energy Star qualified heat pumps have EERs as low as 17. So the Trilogy 40 is a third again as efficient for cooling as the most efficient commercially available GHP, and more than twice as efficient as some Energy Star qualified GHPs.

Scott Lankhorst, President of Synergy Systems, a GHP installer in Kingston, NY, called the jump in efficiency “pretty amazing… 30 EER has been the max for quite a while now.” Lankhorst says that Climatemaster hopes to have the TrilogyTM40 in full production by the end of the year.

According to Barry Golsen, President and COO of LSB, the Trilogy 40 will also have improved heating performance, with a Coefficient of Performance (COP, the industry measure of heating efficiency) of 5 at ground loop conditions. This is also a significant increase, with the best GHPs in the Energy Star list having COPs of 4.1.

In addition, they’ve added new functionality, called “Q-Mode.” Q-Mode is the result of a collaboration between Climatemaster and Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It allows the GHP to produce hot water even when it is not being used for space heating or cooling. According to Chris Williams, technology evangelist at Heatspring, a provider of renewable energy and energy efficiency training and certification, producing hot water year round required additional equipment (and cost) with traditional heat pumps.

The Competition

Yet Climatemaster is not moving into 40 EER territory unchallenged. On GHP manufacturer Waterfurnace Renewable Energy’s (TSX:WFI, OTC:WFIFF) first quarter conference call, an analyst asked CEO Tom Huntington if Waterfurnace had an answer to efficiency breakthroughs at “a competitor.” It does. Huntington believes Waterfurnace’s new 7-Series GHP’s will be even more efficient than Climatemaster’s Trilogy. Variable speed compressors (see below) are available from a number of vendors, and Huntington believes that the compressor used in the Trilogy is less efficient than the on Waterfurnace has selected for the 7-Series.

The Technology

How did they achieve these efficiency breakthroughs? Both companies speak of “variable speed technology.” According to Lankhorst, what they mean is variable speed compressors. Current GHP models use two stage scroll compressors. Variable speed blower motors and pump fields have been available for some time, although they often require the special controllers.

Variable speed compressors are new. According to Williams, “there has been a huge amount of innovation in air source heat pumps,” and the innovations are now being applied to ground source technology.

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[Penny Roger$]

~ Monday! $LXU ~ Earnings posted, pending or coming soon! In Charts and Links Below!

~ $LXU ~ Earnings expected on Monday *
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*If the earnings date is in error please ignore error. I do my best.

[ICEQUITY]

3 Agricultural Stocks That Could be Headed Higher $LXU $POT $ADM #iQ via http://equities.com http://stk.ly/lhVad8

[kmx_swing]

LXU board created....