PPG Industries Inc. PPG recently announced a partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (“DOE”) Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (“LBNL”) that is aimed at producing energy-efficient coatings systems for the automotive industry.
The company’s project known as, Modeling Coating Flow and Dynamics during Drying, was selected to receive funding through the DOE High Performance Computing for Energy Innovation (“HPC4EI”) program.
Scientists at PPG Industries along with LBNL experts will collaborate to model the complex physics, which contributes to paint flow and leveling in a two-layer coatings system. The insights gained from their collaboration is likely to accelerate the introduction of new multi-layer coatings systems that will reduce paint line energy consumption for automotive OEMs by up to 30%.
Notably, PPG Industries’ initiative was one of 11 research projects chosen in the HPC4EI award. The company has worked with the HPC4EI program over many years to advance programs that enables vehicle lightweighting and focus on increasing automotive manufacturing throughput. It also received a grant by DOE last year to study the aging characteristics of a new generation of structural adhesives.
Further, the HPC4EI program is funded by the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewables and the Fossil Energy Office. The program uses world-class DOE capabilities to improve manufacturing processes as well as product and material development to reduce national energy consumption.
Shares of PPG Industries have gained 6.6% in the past year compared with 4.2% growth of the industry.
PPG Industries recently provided an update on July sales and raised its third-quarter views. It stated that net sales for July surpassed its expectations, reflecting a continuation of the strong demand recovery experienced in June.
Factoring in the stronger sales performance in July, PPG Industries projects sales volumes for the third quarter to be down 6-11% year over year, excluding foreign currency translation. Previously, the company expected a year-over-year decline of 8-15%.
Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks
PPG Industries currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
Some other top-ranked stocks in the basic materials space include Northern Dynasty Minerals, Ltd. NAK, Eldorado Gold Corporation EGO and Yamana Gold Inc. AUY, each carrying a Zacks Rank #2. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
Northern Dynasty Minerals has an expected earnings growth rate of 35.7% for 2020. The company’s shares have surged 113.3% in the past year.
Eldorado Gold has an expected earnings growth rate of 2,225% for 2020. Its shares have returned 29.8% in the past year.
Yamana has an expected earnings growth rate of 76.9% for 2020. The company’s shares have soared 77.8% in the past year.
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