Less than a week after its soon-to-be-merged Rohm and Haas Company (ROH) announced it was cutting over 900 jobs, The Dow Chemical Company (DOW) this morning says it will be shedding 5000 positions from its workforce and taking 6000 contractors off its payroll, according to the AP.

The value of DOW’s recently signed K-Dow Petrochemical deal — notable for its Kuwaiti government funding and control — has been lowered 8% from what was originally anticipated. Was it this that helped spur the latest set of massive layoffs in the state of Michigan — a state that has already been ravaged by job cuts in the auto industry — where Dow Chemical is based?

More likely, DOW is looking to strengthen itself ahead of a continued U.S. economic downturn, and layoffs would have happened anyway. Here’s what senior chemicals industry analyst Paul Raman, CFA had to say in his latest valuation on The Dow Chemical Company: “Financials are solid. However, a high exposure to the commodity chemical cycle, along with high raw material costs, force us to rate the stock a Hold with a target of $17.00. This is 5.6x our 2008 estimate.”

Dow seems to determined to keep things lean and mean. In tough times such as these, it can look more mean than lean.

Read the full analyst report on DOW

“DOW” Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
“ROH” Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?
Zacks Investment Research

Last 5 posts by Zacks Market Commentaries

• Forest Misses on Lower Sales - Analyst Blog - November 6th, 2009
• EOG Resources Remains Neutral - Analyst Blog - November 6th, 2009
• Red Robin Fails to Lure Diners - Analyst Blog - November 6th, 2009
• CBS Tops Zacks Estimate - Analyst Blog - November 6th, 2009
• OGE Energy Tops Expectations - Analyst Blog - November 6th, 2009