The Dow Chemical Company (DOW) is the largest producer of plastics and the second-leading chemical company in the world.Vertical integration keeps costs low. The company's recently completed joint venture agreement with Petrochemical Industries Company (PIC) of Kuwait is expected to reduce cyclicality in the chemical business. Further, its merger with Rohm and Haas will consolidate higher margin and higher growth specialty businesses and reduce volatility in earnings and cash flow.However, high raw material costs have forced the company to temporarily idle or reduce production at several of its plants. Further, Dow has a high exposure to the commodity chemical cycle. We expect earnings to remain under pressure and rate the stock a Hold.Read the full analyst report on DOW "DOW" Free Stock Analysis: Buy? Sell? Hold?Zacks Investment Research

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

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The Dow Chemical Company (DOW) is the largest producer of plastics and second-leading chemical company in the world. Vertical integration keeps cost low. Stronger demand in Europe, Asia Pacific, Latin America, India, Middle East and Africa has more than offset the continued economic slowdown in North America. Moreover, price gains have largely offset significant increases in costs of feedstock and energy. The company's recently completed joint venture agreement with Petrochemical Industries Company of Kuwait is expected to reduce cyclicality in the chemical business. Further, its merger with Rohm and Haas will consolidate higher margin and higher growth specialty businesses and reduce the volatility in earnings and cash flow.However, high raw material costs have forced the company to temporarily idle or reduce production at several of its plants. Further, Dow has a high exposure to the commodity chemical cycle. We expect earnings to remain under ...

Dow Chemical (DOW) is going hard core at the corn seed market currently dominated by Monsanto (MON) and DuPont (DD)

Dow AgroSciences, a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company, announced last week that it has further strengthened its global corn seeds platform with the acquisition of Netherlands-based Duo Maize. The deal follows two other recent acquisitions in the corn seeds arena, involving Brazil’s Agromen Tecnologia, and Austrian company Maize Technologies International (MTI).