Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) said it would sell $6 billion senior unsecured notes to buy out preferred shares used for its recent acquisition of Rohm & Haas in a move that will reduce its debt burden significantly.

The Midland, Michigan-based company had borrowed $9.2 billion for the takeover last month and pledged to pay off the debt paid by the end of this year. The sale of debt securities includes $1.75 billion in 5-year notes, $3.25 billion in 10-year notes and a $1 billion 30-year bond issue.

The sale also helps Dow in saving substantially in dividend payments as perpetual preferred shareholders are entitled to about 15% in payouts. Shares of the company were up more than 6% to $16.77 in morning trade on the New York Stock Exchnage.

"DOW" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

The markets started off strong this morning, but by the end of the day early gains faded as the Dow was slipped 0.22%.  The NASDAQ held on to its gains, up 0.31%, while the S&P was down 0.10% closing at 872.81.  Futures for both gold and oil were down today settling at $891.20 and $51.12 respectively.  The price of the 10-year fell as treasury yields rose to 3.115%. 

Exxon Mobil [XOM: 66.67, -1.77 (-2.59%)] announced earnings of $4.55 billion, or $0.92 per share, reporting below the average analyst estimate of $0.98 per share.  Revenue fell 45% this quarter to $64.03 billion as weaker demand and falling oil prices hurt the Irving, Texas company.  Exxon reported that profit fell 58% bettering BP, [BP: 42.46, -0.65 (-1.51%)] who lost 64% in profit, and Royal Dutch Shell, who lost 62% as well.  Capital and exploration expenses rose 5% during the

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL - April 3, 2009 - Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: The Dow Chemical Co. (DOW), Hana Bioscience (HNAB), Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD), Intel Corp. (INTC) and Amphenol Corp. (APH).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=4579.

Here are highlights from Thursday's Analyst Blog:

DOW Reels In Rohm & Haas Deal

The Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) announced that it completed the acquisition of Rohm and Haas.

Synergies are targeted to be $1.3 billion. Dow has decided to exercise its option to have the

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The markets rallied strongly today with the NASDAQ up 3.29%.  Both the Dow and S&P were up closing at 7978.08 and 834.38 respectively.  Price on the 10 year treasury was up and the yield was down, to settle at 2.759%.  Oil was up today settling at $52.64, while gold contracts were down settling at $908.90.

Dow Chemical [DOW: 11.00, +1.06 (+10.66%)] had a great day, up over 12%, after announcing today that it was going to sell Morton International to Germany’s K+G for $1.68 billion in cash.  This move comes a day after announcing that it had closed the deal to buy Rohm & Hass for $16.4 billion.  Dow acquired a $12.5 billion bridge loan, new investments, and cut its dividend by 64% in efforts to buy the company.  The sale of Morton will help to pay down debt caused by the Rohm & Hass purchase and analysts believe

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The Dow Chemical Co. (DOW) announced that it completed the acquisition of Rohm and Haas.Synergies are targeted to be $1.3 billion. Dow has decided to exercise its option to have the Haas Family Trusts make an additional $500 million investment in Dow equity. This is consistent with Dow's disciplined plan to retire the bridge loan for the financing of the Rohm and Haas transaction by the end of 2009. This will be accomplished through the sale of assets, issuance of equity and debt, and the previously announced reduction in the Company's dividend to preserve cash.Dow is required to divest the following businesses: Clear Lake, Texas, acrylic acid and esters plant and the related glacial acrylic acid, butyl acrylate and ethyl acrylate businesses in North, Central, and South America, UCAR Emulsion Systems specialty latex businesses in North America and North American hollow plastic ...

Rohm & Haas Co. (ROH) tumbled 16% on Monday after its $15.4 billion acquisition by Dow Chemical (DOW) was postponed on account of the global financial crisis and collapse of a Kuwaiti joint venture, through which Dow had meant to fund the deal.

The Federal Trade Commission had approved the long awaited deal last Friday, creating a deadline of two business days for completing the merger. Dow said it remains interested in completing the acquisition as part of its “long-term strategy.”

Last July, Dow agreed to buy Rohm & Haas to defend itself against volatile commodity prices by gaining access to raw materials used for electronics and water-based paints. But the deal created investor concern as prices for commodities began to fall soon after the deal was signed.

Dow Chief Executive Andrew Liveris insisted that he could complete the transaction even without $7 billion

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Misery Index for the Week Ended January 23, 2009

January 23, 2009 ndash; The DJIA lost 202 points this last week, or 2.4%, as the drip of negative economic data and downbeat corporate earnings reports continued. All things being equal, it could have been worse, as the 8,000 level was breached each trading session of the shortened week. Here is this weekrsquo;s past Misery Index:nbsp;nbsp;

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Profit warnings ndash; BASF, ECB, Varian, Estee Lauder, Elizabeth Arden, Belden, AZZ, Inc., TD Ameritrade, Ultralife Batteries, Parker Hannifin, United Rentals, Cash America, Air Products, WSP Holdings, Wonder Auto, Electro, Lockheed Martin, Sony, Northrop Grumman, Molina Healthcare, Schlumberger, nbsp;Genuine Parts, MEMC, Interline Brands.nbsp;nbsp;

middot;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp; Job Cuts ndash; Time Warner (almost 800 jobs), Rio Tinto (1,100 jobs worldwide), Bose (1,000 jobs or 10% of staff),nbsp; Rohm amp; Hahs (900 jobs), Tandy Brands (about 17% of workforce),nbsp; Burberry (more than 500 jobs), BHP Billiton (6,000 jobs), Eaton (5,200 …

Friday January 23, 2009
Navivest

The Federal Trade Commission today gave Dow (DOW) the green light to complete its $18.8 billion proposed acquisition of Rohm and Haas (ROH). On January 8, Dow received EU clearance to go forward with the deal.

The FTC was concerned that Dow’s proposed $18.8 billion acquisition of rival chemical manufacturer Rohm & Haas Company would be anticompetitive and would violate federal law.

As a condition of the FTC’s consent decree, Dow will have to divest certain business lines.

Under terms of the merger agreement that it signed with Rohm and Haas, Dow has to consummate the deal within two days of receiving FTC approval.

Depending on whether that was two business days or not, we should hear something by Sunday or Tuesday.

This morning, we recommended that subscribers to our Navivest Equity Trader advisory service buy Rohm and Haas shares. We also made the same recommendation on this

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HIDDEN VALUE

If Crude oil Breaks Through $53, It’s a Screaming Buy

Dear Value Seeker,

America’s job losses have come into sharp focus again today.

The New York Times calls it a “rising tide.” It’s more like a tsunami…

Initial jobless claims for the week ended January 17 shot up by 62,000 to 589,000. This is the highest weekly rise in unemployment since November 1982.

Meanwhile, Microsoft ensured an abrupt reversal of yesterday’s stock market rally by warning that it was “not immune” to the recession.

The tech giant also announced it would give 5,000 workers their marching orders, including 1,400 today.

Microsoft joins a long and growing list of blue chips that have announced job cuts in 2009.

It’s a list The Wall Street Journal’s Real Time Economics blog is tracking:

Company name Date of announcement...

The ongoing economic downturn has played its part in Rohm & Haas' (ROH) latest move to eliminate 5.7% of its work force. The company is also closing units and initiating a freeze on discretionary spending and employee salaries.

ROH expects to save $90 million annually with these actions. However, the chemical maker expects a restructuring and asset impairment charges of $90 million in the fourth quarter.

Rohm & Haas also mentioned that it expects fourth-quarter profit to beat the consensus estimate. Analysts are expecting a profit of 67 cents.

The company is a Zacks #4 Rank ("Sell").

"ROH" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research