See which workplaces made this year's list.

2026_GPTW_best-places-by-industry-Manufacturing+Production-Dow

Employees say:"I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude for the incredible flexibility in my work schedule and the time off that the company has granted me over this recent year. &nbsp;My parent was recently diagnosed with advanced stage cancer and being able to be there for them during this challenging time, especially with their treatment plan, has been invaluable.The understanding and support from my leader have meant the world to me and my family. It has allowed me to balance my work responsibilities while also being there for my family. Thank you for your kindness and consideration during this difficult period."

Best Large Workplaces in Manufacturing and Production

This ranking evaluates how Fortune 500 companies are deploying AI, and how technology leaders value those investments relative to industry peers.

Fortune AIQ 75

The companies on the Global 500 employ 70.2 million people, and their revenue represents more than one-third of the world’s GDP.

Fortune Global 500

With a combined revenue of $21 trillion and $2.1 trillion in profits, the 2026 Fortune 500 is the definitive list of America's largest companies.

Fortune 500

AI is a major force shaping this year’s list—but it’s far from the only story.

World's Most Admired Companies

This year's 100 Best Companies to Work For are rebuilding the social contract at work so people feel supported, trusted, and future-ready as they undergo that transition.

100 Best Places to Work 2026_Dow

Employees say:"Our 401K match is amazing alongside parental leave are unique. I also appreciate the flexibility in work location and work hours as needed. Leadership trusts me to do my job regardless of where I am located or when I am working, and I continue to deliver on this with mutual respect. I have almost always had a strong leader in my 10 years at the company. This includes someone who understands my interests, provides clear feedback, supports my growth, and challenges me appropriately."

Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For

The region's best workplaces put integrity, inclusion, and respect at the center of their workplace culture.

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Dow ranks No. 88 on the 2025 Best Companies to Work For Southeast Asia.

Fortune 100 Best Companies To Work For – Southeast Asia

Organizations are assessed on their efforts to create great workplaces—and positively impact people and communities across the world.

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Dow ranks No. 18 on the 2025 World’s 25 Best Workplaces list.

World’s 25 Best Workplaces

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Employees say:"Dow has people who care. I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2023, and I was blown away by the number of people from my current and past roles and teams who reached out to me for support. The support from other Dow team members is really what makes this company special! I had good leadership support and benefits, but it is the people who made me eager to come back to work."

The corporations on our annual list of the world's 500 largest companies combined to generate $41.7 trillion in revenue over the past year.

Almost $20 trillion in revenue—and a record-breaking $1.87 trillion in profits. Introducing the 2025 Fortune 500, the definitive list of the biggest companies in America.

The top companies on our list have one thing in common: Staff largely trust leadership to see them as well-rounded people and reward them for a job well done.

Global Dow Center in Midland, Michigan

Employees say: "Dow is a great place to work because I can always be myself. I have the opportunity to make a big difference not only to Dow's bottom line, but also the community and environment around us. We have many great perks and benefits that are really not comparable to other companies. Dow is led by an outstanding CEO who I feel is really part of the reason that Dow is such a great place to work."

Leaders in all industries rely more than ever on Big Tech—and appreciate the giants that deliver, at scale, without drama.

Organizations are assessed on their efforts to create great workplaces and positively impact people and communities across multiple countries around the world.

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Dow ranks No. 20 on the 2024 World’s 25 Best Workplaces list.

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Employees say:"Dow is a big company but operates like a small, family-oriented company. All of my colleagues are great, and we work so well together for Team Dow!"

The corporations on our annual list posted aggregate revenues of $41 trillion for the second year in a row.

Industries included in the sector are diversified and specialty chemical manufacturers.

Fortune Sector Leaders: Chemicals

The Fortune 500, in its 70th year in 2024, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

Creating a more empathetic workplace looks like staying loyal to workers, emphasizing D&I initiatives, and paying well.

100 Best Companies 2024-Dow

This is the fourth year Dow has made the list, and it climbed 10 spots this year. The plastics and industrial-supplies manufacturer operates sites in 31 countries, and 60% of its workforce have on-the-ground roles like plant operators, engineers, and maintenance workers. Off the ground, its workers include researchers, scientists, information systems professionals, and sales staff.&nbsp;&nbsp;Dow’s values, namely personal safety, inclusion and diversity, pay equity, and global humanitarian aid, are part of what makes it a great place to work. Dow offers opportunities to all employees to answer questions and voice concerns through 10 employee resource groups, which saw increased employee participation from 15% in 2017 to nearly 60% of employees this year.&nbsp;&nbsp;It also offers employees access to a well-being portal where they can access rewards for healthy habits—in the first half of last year, the company invested more than $5 million in rewards, and employees have redeemed almost $12 million since the portal launched.

The 26th edition of the list shows how much esteem Big Tech giants command among other business leaders.

The 25th Fortune World’s Most Admired Companies list suggests that tech giants’ peers respect them as much as ever.

Building a culture of trust and transparency is essential to help everyone thrive, especially in rocky economic times.

100 BEST COMPANIES 2023-Dow

Inclusivity is an ongoing priority for this manufacturer of plastics, silicones, and more, which has earned Dow a spot on the Best Companies to Work For list for a third year. 
<ul> 
 	<li>To ensure its efforts don’t falter, Dow built a scorecard for diversity and inclusion metrics, which provides transparency for how each segment of the company is progressing. A separate workforce dashboard for leaders gives them visibility into the diversity breakdown of their team.</li> 
 	<li>The company’s Peer Allies program randomly assigns participants a new peer/ally connection each month, encouraging them to meet for at least one 30-minute one-on-one conversation. So far, more than 1,400 people at all levels throughout the company (making up roughly 10% of the workforce) take part in it.</li> 
 	<li>“Dow is a wonderful company to work for,” said one employee. “The management does a wonderful job meeting you where you are in life and being flexible to allow employees to be productive all while managing their lives.”</li> 
</ul>

The corporations on our annual list of the world’s largest companies delivered a record $41 trillion in aggregate revenues.

At winning companies, 88% of employees would recommend their employer to friends and family.

GPTW World's Best 2023-Dow

GPTW Manufacturing Production Large 2023-Dow

Employees say: 
 
"The way the company is engaged in inclusion and diversity is going beyond words, straight into action. It is clear that Dow puts people first. One recent example is the new parental leave policy, offering the same time off to both parents, either birth or adopting parents, including same-sex parents."

The Fortune 500, in its 69th year in 2023, ranks the biggest U.S. companies by revenue.

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The Michigan-based chemical producer boasts close to 38,000 employees across 104 manufacturing sites in 31 countries. 
<ul> 
 	<li>Dow fell 11 spots on this year’s Fortune 500, with $56.9 billion in revenue in 2022, a 3.5% increase from 2021.</li> 
 	<li>In 2023, the multinational’s chairman and CEO, Jim Fitterling, said Dow expects to deliver $1 billion in cost savings by enhancing productivity.</li> 
</ul>

Just as it dominates our economy, Big Tech now dominates Fortune’s annual ranking of corporate reputation.

When it comes to supporting employees, flexibility, diversity, and a few extra paid days off go a long way.

100-Best-2022-Dow

Since 2017, Dow has seen its employee resource groups grow exponentially, jumping from 15% to 52% participation rate, including 98% of its people leaders. Last year it launched an “All In” strategy elevating its focus on gender parity in leadership positions and established a global minimum standard of 16 weeks of paid time off for all new parents. Dow also expanded family and caregiver leave policies to provide employees up to three weeks of paid time off to care for sick or injured family members. Some 86% of employees say that “management is honest and ethical in its business practices.”

Aggregate sales hit $37.8 trillion last year—an increase of 19%, the highest annual growth rate in the list’s history.

Employees say: 
 
“The people in Dow are second-to-none. Our team is comprised of the brightest, most motivated professionals in the world, and I believe every day our team members wake up motivated to truly make this a safer, more inclusive and more sustainable world. I've been a Dow employee for nearly 20 years, and I've never been more proud...nor more motivated...to work for this company.”

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 68th running of the list.

F500 2022-Dow Inc.

The multinational chemical manufacturer weathered supply-chain constraints and inflated raw-materials prices to deliver a very strong 2021. The company announced revenue of $55 billion in 2021, a 42.6% increase over 2020. Most of Dow’s growth came from its packaging and specialty plastics sales, as the company was able to take advantage of supply bottlenecks and maintain high prices for its products. In 2022, however, Dow is expected to face even higher raw-material and energy costs, as well as the ramifications of suspending its purchases of feedstocks and energy from Russia.

Our 2021 list of the 100 best companies to work for, as ranked by their employees. See which companies made the list.

100 Best Companies 2021-100-The-Dow-Chemical-Company

In the war on COVID-19, Dow supplied armaments to the front lines. The company’s plants—it has 109 manufacturing sites across 31 countries—churned out plastics and chemicals crucial in making personal protective equipment and virus-slaying sanitizers. After producing and donating 100,000 face shields to the state of Michigan, Dow made its designs publicly available for download. The company pumped out more than 880,000 eight-ounce bottles of hand sanitizer per week during the pandemic. Dow also designed, manufactured, and donated thousands of hospital gowns and air purifiers to hospitals, and, in recognition of its employees’ efforts, it awarded $1,000 bonuses to approximately 8,200 workers who kept the lights on at its U.S. factories. “Our leadership insured we helped the community with PPE,” one proud worker says.

Total revenue for the world’s biggest companies fell 4.8% to $31.7 trillion this year—the first decline in half a decade.

<span data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;The chemicals giant, which debuted as a stand-alone entity on the Fortune 500 last year, had a rocky 2020, sliding four spots on our list and sustaining a more than 10% hit to revenues as the pandemic initially slammed oil prices and demand for some of Dow’s products. The company cut capital spending by over $700 million from the year prior, but posted year-over-year revenue growth in the fourth quarter as demand recovered. Deadly winter storm Uri knocked Texas offline and temporarily halted Dow’s Gulf Coast operations in early 2021, but the firm still managed to report strong earnings to kick off the year. Now, the chemicals titan is facing a new dynamic: keeping up with rising demand for its products amid tight supply and low inventory. That all bodes well for Dow’s business, at least for now, as CEO Jim Fitterling recently predicted prices for the company’s products should remain elevated. &quot;}" data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:12673,&quot;3&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:0},&quot;10&quot;:2,&quot;11&quot;:4,&quot;15&quot;:&quot;Calibri, Arial&quot;,&quot;16&quot;:11}" data-sheets-textstyleruns="{&quot;1&quot;:0}{&quot;1&quot;:66,&quot;2&quot;:{&quot;6&quot;:1}}{&quot;1&quot;:73}">The chemicals giant had a rocky 2020, sustaining a more than 10% hit to revenues as the pandemic initially slammed oil prices and demand for some of Dow’s products. The company cut capital spending by over $700 million from the year prior, but posted year-over-year revenue growth in the fourth quarter as demand recovered. Deadly winter storm Uri knocked Texas offline and temporarily halted Dow’s Gulf Coast operations in early 2021, but the firm still managed to report strong earnings to kick off the year. Now, the chemicals titan is facing a new dynamic: keeping up with rising demand for its products amid tight supply and low inventory. That all bodes well for Dow’s business, at least for now, as CEO Jim Fitterling recently predicted prices for the company’s products should remain elevated.

Companies on this year's list—which span the electrical, automotive, and medical device industries—invest in and trust their employees.

Best-Workplaces-Large-Manufacturing-Production-2021-DOW

Employees say: 
 
“Regardless of degree, Dow provides an opportunity for a diverse career. If you are a hard worker, embrace challenges, and perform, you can have the ability to work in various roles throughout the company."

This year’s Fortune 500 marks the 67th running of the list.

F500-2021-82-Dow-Inc

<span data-sheets-value="{&quot;1&quot;:2,&quot;2&quot;:&quot;The chemicals giant, which debuted as a stand-alone entity on the Fortune 500 last year, had a rocky 2020, sliding four spots on our list and sustaining a more than 10% hit to revenues as the pandemic initially slammed oil prices and demand for some of Dow’s products. The company cut capital spending by over $700 million from the year prior, but posted year-over-year revenue growth in the fourth quarter as demand recovered. Deadly winter storm Uri knocked Texas offline and temporarily halted Dow’s Gulf Coast operations in early 2021, but the firm still managed to report strong earnings to kick off the year. Now, the chemicals titan is facing a new dynamic: keeping up with rising demand for its products amid tight supply and low inventory. That all bodes well for Dow’s business, at least for now, as CEO Jim Fitterling recently predicted prices for the company’s products should remain elevated. &quot;}" data-sheets-userformat="{&quot;2&quot;:12673,&quot;3&quot;:{&quot;1&quot;:0},&quot;10&quot;:2,&quot;11&quot;:4,&quot;15&quot;:&quot;Calibri, Arial&quot;,&quot;16&quot;:11}" data-sheets-textstyleruns="{&quot;1&quot;:0}{&quot;1&quot;:66,&quot;2&quot;:{&quot;6&quot;:1}}{&quot;1&quot;:73}">The chemicals giant, which debuted as a stand-alone entity on the Fortune 500 last year, had a rocky 2020, sliding four spots on our list and sustaining a more than 10% hit to revenues as the pandemic initially slammed oil prices and demand for some of Dow’s products. The company cut capital spending by over $700 million from the year prior, but posted year-over-year revenue growth in the fourth quarter as demand recovered. Deadly winter storm Uri knocked Texas offline and temporarily halted Dow’s Gulf Coast operations in early 2021, but the firm still managed to report strong earnings to kick off the year. Now, the chemicals titan is facing a new dynamic: keeping up with rising demand for its products amid tight supply and low inventory. That all bodes well for Dow’s business, at least for now, as CEO Jim Fitterling recently predicted prices for the company’s products should remain elevated.

This year's Fortune Global 500 generated $33.3 trillion in revenues and $2.1 trillion in profits.

G500-2020-283-Dow

The new Dow came into being, at least officially, when behemoth DowDuPont split itself into three publicly traded entities last year. The now-independent chemicals giant posted $42.9 billion in annual revenue. Since striking out on its own, the company, headquartered in Midland, Mich., has taken steps to deleverage, paying down some $3 billion in debt last year. Still, it lost nearly $1.4 billion in 2019, a figure that includes one-time charges related to its spin off. In 2020 the chemicals space has been hit hard by factors related to plunging oil prices, prompting Dow to announce it would cut spending.

This year's Fortune 500 marks the 66th running of the list.

F500-2020-078-Dow Inc

The new Dow came into being, at least officially, when behemoth DowDuPont split itself into three publicly-traded entities last year. And the now-independent chemicals giant has emerged at a relatively lofty spot on the Fortune 500 ranking, posting $42.9 billion in annual revenue. Since striking out on its own, the company, headquartered in Midland, Mich., has taken steps to deleverage, paying down some $3 billion in debt last year. Still, it lost nearly $1.4 billion in 2019, a figure that includes one-time charges related to its spin off. In 2020 the chemicals space has been hit hard by factors related to plunging oil prices, prompting Dow to announce it would cut spending.

Best Companies

Rank last year

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Compressed work weeks

Option to work remotely

Minimum requirement in-office attendance (days per week)

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Free backup childcare time off (days)

Maximum $ amount covered for fertility services

Fully paid maternal leave (days)

Fully paid paternal leave (days)

Fully paid adoptive leave (days)

Maternal leave in addition to regular time off (days)

Paid days off for volunteering

World's Best Workplaces

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Best Companies To Work For Southeast Asia

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Best Workplaces In Manufacturing And Production

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Dow makes and sells materials science solutions for packaging, infrastructure, mobility, and consumer applications. It is among the world’s largest chemical and plastics producers. Dow’s roots go back to the 1890s. The company was created in its current form after chemical companies Dow and DuPont merged in the 2010s to form DowDuPont; in 2019, the materials science division of the company was spun off from that entity to create Dow Inc.

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Dow (DOW): Company Profile, Stock Price, News, Rankings

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Greetings and welcome to the Dow third quarter 2026 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. If you would like to ask a question at that time, please press star followed by one on your telephone keypad. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn it over to Dow Investor Relations Vice President, Andrew Riker. Mr. Riker, you may begin.

Good morning. Thank you for joining today. The accompanying slides are provided through this webcast and posted on our website. I am Andrew Riker, Dow's Investor Relations Vice President. Leading today's call are Karen S. Carter, Chief Executive Officer, and Jeff Tate, Chief Financial Officer. Please note, our comments contain forward-looking statements and are subject to the related cautionary statement contained in the earnings news release and slides. Please refer to our public filings for further information about principal risk and uncertainties. Unless otherwise specified, all financials, where applicable, exclude significant items. We will also refer to non-GAAP measures. A reconciliation of the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure and other associated disclosures are contained in the earnings news release that is posted on our website. On slide two is our agenda for today.

Karen and Jeff will begin with a review of our third quarter performance and the progress we are making through our self-help actions. We will cover the near-term operating environment and fourth quarter outlook, as well as details about how our priorities are building a more competitive Dow. Throughout the discussion, you will hear a consistent theme. We are acting decisively on levers we control to strengthen earnings, cash generation, and long-term value creation. As always, we will ensure ample time near the end for your questions. With that, let me turn it over to Karen, starting on slide three.

Thank you, Andrew. Our solid third quarter performance reflects the discipline and focus of Team Dow as we build a stronger company while navigating a dynamic market environment. We continue to partner with customers in attractive growth markets while also improving productivity and strengthening cash generation. Our collective self-help measures, which include the completion of our $1 billion 2025 cost savings program, the beginning of our previously announced European asset shutdowns, and our transformation, are all delivering tangible results. In the third quarter, that execution translated into meaningful progress and strong performance in many areas of our portfolio. Net sales were up 13% year-over-year, with growth in every operating segment. Operating EBITDA was more than $1.5 billion, as pricing actions and self-help measures more than offset higher raw material and logistics costs to drive year-over-year growth.

Together, our actions and the results they are delivering help reinforce Dow's earnings power. They strengthen our financial position while also enabling us to build a more competitive company for the long term. Transform to Outperform continues to deliver benefits ahead of our initial schedule, and we remain on track to achieve approximately $700 million in growth and productivity improvements this year. We also completed significant planned maintenance during the third quarter, which will support stronger production and earnings performance heading into the fourth quarter and beyond, and we are optimizing our working capital and actively prioritizing debt reduction with excess cash. This reinforces our continued focus on financial discipline and operational execution. Next, turning to the portfolio, let me highlight the greatest areas of strength.

First, in the Packaging & Specialty Plastics segment, we're maintaining higher pricing for polyethylene and functional polymers in all regions, and we delivered sequential volume gains. In the Industrial Intermediates & Infrastructure segment, increased demand for energy applications and AI infrastructure is supporting improved pricing and margins. We are seeing growth in the Performance Materials & Coatings segment, driven by consumer, electronics, and home care applications. This quarter, we also saw volume gains in Europe as well as in Latin America and the United States and Canada, all while the macro conditions remained dynamic. Moving forward, our focus remains on improving shareholder returns through self-help actions, better cash generation, and a stronger balance sheet. With that, Jeff will share a more granular look at the quarter and our near-term outlook.

Thank you, Karen. Starting with our Packaging & Specialty Plastics segment on slide four, net sales were $5.8 billion, up 18% versus the year ago period. Operating EBIT was approximately $585 million, which represents an increase of more than $385 million compared with the same period last year. This was primarily driven by higher polyethylene prices, improved integrated margins, and benefits from our self-help initiatives. The Packaging & Specialty Plastics business delivered higher net sales driven by polyethylene and functional polymer price gains in all regions. Polyethylene prices rebounded in the second half of the quarter, supported by elevated feedstock costs, and demand remained resilient, as evidenced by year-over-year volume growth, excluding supply constraints related to the Middle East conflict. Polyethylene volumes were notably strong in pipe applications, led by gains in infrastructure-related applications in Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India.

Higher net sales in the Hydrocarbons & Energy business were driven by increased pricing. We also saw increased olefins volumes after restarting our lowest cost, most flexible cracker in Terneuzen following an idling due to plant maintenance. As a result of having this asset back online, we delivered record LPG consumption in Europe in the third quarter, capitalizing on feedstock dynamics. Next, I'll turn to slide five, which outlines the strong year-over-year earnings improvement in our Industrial Intermediates & Infrastructure segment. Net sales were $3.1 billion, up 8% versus the year ago period, driven by a 16% increase in local price. This reflects gains across both businesses and all regions. Operating EBIT improved to $176 million, reflecting an increase of $223 million versus the same quarter last year. This was driven by higher margins and benefits from our self-help initiatives.

Polyurethanes & Construction Chemicals recorded higher sales, driven by stronger pricing in MDI and propylene oxide derivatives across Europe and the United States and Canada, reflecting constrained supply dynamics in the period. Additionally, volume and EBITDA growth in Industrial Solutions was fueled by robust demand for AI infrastructure and energy applications, where favorable trends continued to support the segment's momentum. Moving to Performance Materials & Coatings on slide six, we saw solid top line and EBITDA growth in the third quarter. Net sales were $2.3 billion, up 8% versus the same quarter last year. This included volume improvements in both businesses, which was led by downstream silicones. Operating EBIT was $154 million. The team delivered both price and volume gains, as well as benefits from our self-help initiatives, including cost savings associated with the second quarter shutdown of our Barry siloxanes unit.

Consumer Solutions had double-digit sales and EBITDA growth in the Americas. This was largely driven by downstream silicones volume gains in all regions. The Coatings & Performance Monomers business delivered higher sales across all regions, led by price and volume gains in both acrylic monomers and architectural coatings. Next, I'll move to slide seven. Here, we're providing a new view of how the benefits from our intentional actions are flowing through the P&L to ultimately strengthen Dow's underlying earnings power. We delivered a sequential improvement of more than $150 million in self-help benefits in the third quarter. This includes the Barry siloxanes unit shutdown, cost savings actions, and the growth and productivity benefits from our transformation. While self-help is structurally improving Dow's underlying earnings base, the benefits in the third quarter were mainly offset by margin pressures, primarily in Packaging & Specialty Plastics.

More specifically, while the situation in the Middle East drove significant second quarter price hikes and subsequent declines in July, we began to see signs of stabilization as the quarter progressed, including a price increase in September. Looking specifically at our transformation, we have already delivered approximately $450 million of year-to-date improvements, including approximately $250 million in the third quarter. Importantly, and I want to really emphasize this, everyone at Dow owns self-help. It has become a part of our everyday mindset, and we remain focused on our commitment to implement approximately $1.3 billion in net benefits this year, as well as $1.3 billion in 2027. We are holding our teams accountable for maintaining this mindset, ensuring we continue to be relentless in driving growth, productivity, and efficiency, all to reinforce Dow's competitive advantages while also improving our earnings and our cash position.

Next on slide eight, I'll walk through some details that support our overall view that underlying demand is steady while the macroeconomic environment remains challenging. We continue to see resilience in packaging globally, as well as electric vehicle growth in Asia and Europe. At the same time, higher interest rates and weaker consumer confidence continue to pressure demand for products tied to housing. Across regions, Dow's footprint in the Americas remains advantaged, supported by our favorable feedstock position and continued high operating rates in the U.S. Gulf Coast. In Europe, persistently high energy costs continue to challenge industry economics, and broad-based petrochemical closures are accelerating. In Asia, demand remains mixed. Strength in electronics is helping offset softer consumer spending and real estate markets.

Lastly, in the Middle East, while all supply concerns have eased from levels we saw earlier this year, risk to trade flows in energy markets remain elevated, as do freight and other transportation costs with increased pressure on tanker and diesel prices. Against this backdrop, slide nine provides details on our fourth quarter expectations, including both our market assumptions and the contributions we expect from the actions within our control. As we look ahead, there is still quite a bit of uncertainty in the market, including the situation in the Middle East that I just mentioned. Therefore, forecasting the quarter continues to be more challenging than usual. As always, we will monitor conditions closely and provide updates if external factors change meaningfully or affect our initial guidance. For the fourth quarter, we expect EBITDA of approximately $1.5 billion. Recent polyethylene price gains should improve our margins.

This builds on the momentum we saw late in the third quarter, and we expect those higher prices to take effect before the impact of increased raw material costs. We anticipate the seasonality that we typically see in the fourth quarter will be largely offset by more than $100 million of lower sequential turnaround spending. Additionally, we expect to deliver approximately $100 million of sequential uplift from our self-help actions, including our transformation and ongoing benefits from the closure of our Barry U.K. Siloxanes unit. In Europe, we expect energy costs to remain elevated as we head into the winter months. In addition, regional supply chains and logistics are still experiencing significant disruption, including the impacts from record low water levels on the Rhine River. These supply constraints are creating additional pricing opportunities for Dow, which should help offset some of the headwinds.

Looking briefly at our expectations for each segment, in Packaging & Specialty Plastics, we anticipate global polyethylene integrated margins to improve by approximately $0.02 per pound compared to the third quarter. That should offset normal year-end seasonality. In addition, we expect lower turnaround spending and self-help to provide sequential tailwinds. In our two other segments, we anticipate a typical seasonal slowdown in building and construction activity to reduce earnings in the period. Taken together, our intentional actions help to support a roughly flat sequential outlook. With that, I will turn the call back over to Karen to talk more about our self-help and our near-term priorities.

Thanks, Jeff. Above all, our focus is on building a more competitive Dow that delivers improved long-term value. That comes down to three priorities: winning with customers in attractive growth markets, strengthening our portfolio's competitiveness, and maintaining a balanced approach to capital allocation. Importantly, our self-help commitments underpin all three. I will start with our progress on Transform to Outperform on slide 11, then we will walk through how these priorities guide our growth investments, portfolio decisions, and financial discipline. Dow's transformation is contributing significant gains as part of our overall approach to continued self-help. These efforts are effectively resetting our cost structure and establishing a more targeted approach to sustained growth. As I mentioned earlier, we expect to deliver approximately $700 million this year, which is higher than our initial projections. Let me highlight a few timely examples of where this work is having an impact.

As the way we work continues to evolve, so do our expectations for where and how work gets done. We are enabling faster decision-making and putting the right roles in the right areas of the company. This includes the reduction of approximately 4,500 Dow roles. To date, we have implemented approximately 70% of those reductions, and we expect to substantially complete this phase of the transformation by year-end. At the same time, we are driving productivity improvements of approximately $150 million in benefits in the second half of this year. This includes deploying a repeatable site transformation playbook at our largest sites, which remains focused on maintenance productivity, energy efficiency, and asset utilization. For example, recent improvements at one U.S. Gulf Coast site helped a cracker achieve durable, record-high production, which ultimately adds low cost capacity and strengthens supply reliability for downstream customers.

On the growth side, we are establishing platforms and teams that bring Dow's technologies and expertise together around attractive end markets like AI infrastructure and mobility. By pairing Dow's materials science expertise, technical service, and digital tools with customers' own innovation goals, the platforms move us from supplier to partner. This helps customers innovate better and faster while earning Dow higher value and more stable growth. We are using data more efficiently to ensure stronger commercial pipeline discipline. As a result, our teams have earlier visibility into customer opportunities and stronger insights, allowing us to quickly prioritize the opportunities that have higher value potential. This also helps us decide sooner which opportunities not to pursue, allowing us to focus Dow's resources where we are best positioned to win.

These are just a few examples, and we remain committed to advancing all of our self-help measures to deliver material improvements in the near term. We're doing so while also executing on each of our priorities, beginning with focused growth and innovation on slide 12. Dow's downstream silicones business illustrates our approach well. We are investing in applications and projects that serve fast-growing markets. Many of the incremental growth investments we have made in silicone specifically are expected to pay back in two to three years. For example, our closed loop liquid cooling systems and advanced thermal fluids are serving markets that are growing at double-digit rates. Our technologies are helping to solve important challenges for hyperscale servers, and our thermal interface materials and engineered silicones are used in semiconductor packaging and power electronics.

In mobility, the opportunities for Dow are driven by a growing EV market in Europe and Asia, as well as the amount of silicone used in each vehicle. EVs contain approximately three times as much silicone as a traditional internal combustion model. Dow materials are used in critical applications that protect cameras and sensors, as well as support battery pack assembly and thermal management. When it comes to how we think about growth and innovation, the bottom line is this. Dow teams are advancing from expanded customer development capabilities to new production capacity in key markets, and we are doing so with a clear focus on capital discipline and faster payback projects. Turning to slide 13, we're strengthening the competitiveness of Dow's portfolio by intentionally shifting our investments toward differentiated applications and advantage production, while also exiting higher cost upstream capacity.

While this particular slide does not provide a complete list, I would like to share some key examples. First, we are improving the cost position of our manufacturing footprint. We restarted our lowest cost and most flexible cracker in Europe in the second quarter, while also completing the shutdown of our higher cost, energy intensive Barry siloxanes unit in the United Kingdom. Both actions contributed to improved third quarter earnings. At the same time, we are investing in downstream applications where our differentiation matters to customers. More specifically, our Poly 7 polyethylene unit in the U.S. Gulf Coast supports specialty packaging, as well as health and hygiene applications where demand remains resilient. Our alkoxylation investments in the United States and Europe support growth in our Industrial Solutions business, which serves home care, pharmaceutical, and energy markets.

In silicones, we are expanding capabilities across the U.S., China, and Japan to serve electronics and mobility markets, including engineered silicone and silicone rubber capacity expansions. Our asset actions include both closures and prudent growth investments. Taken together, they form one integrated portfolio strategy. We have completed a number of key actions and expect to advance more through next year. Next, Jeff will discuss our third priority, balanced capital allocation, and the actions we are taking to strengthen Dow's financial position for the long term.

Thank you, Karen. On slide 14, our approach to financial discipline remains consistent, with a clear focus on maintaining both strength and flexibility. We are prioritizing debt reduction with excess cash, while also taking actions to release working capital and maintain ample liquidity. Let me start with the balance sheet. We have approximately $14 billion of liquidity and no substantive debt maturities until 2029, providing significant financial flexibility. We are actively directing excess cash toward de-leveraging. This year, we repurchased approximately $300 million of debt in the third quarter, with plans for an additional approximately $200 million in the fourth quarter. Together with the March 2027 euro bond maturity, these combined actions are expected to retire approximately $1.4 billion of debt.

As Karen mentioned at the top of the call, we are making prudent operating trade-offs to improve working capital and have already released more than $400 million of cash in the third quarter, keeping us on track for a more than $500 million cash release in the second half of this year. As we close out the year, our focus will remain on continuing to strengthen our balance sheet. We have consistently taken decisive and prudent actions to preserve Dow's financial flexibility and will continue to do so through every phase of the cycle. With that, Karen will share some closing remarks before we open the call for questions.

Thanks, Jeff. Slide 15 brings these priorities back together to show how we are building a more competitive Dow that is positioned to deliver long-term value for our shareholders, our customers, and our people. We continue to operate through a dynamic period. The geopolitical and macro conditions remain volatile, and demand signals are mixed. This is not unique to Dow. Through focused growth and innovation, we are directing capital and resources toward fast-growing markets and stronger commercial execution in areas where we can sharpen our competitive edge and solve more with our customers. We are making our portfolio more competitive by investing in advantaged businesses, differentiated technologies, and low-cost assets, while also moving decisively where we no longer have a clear path to sustainably compete and win. Our focus areas around capital allocation are straightforward.

Strengthen the balance sheet, improve cash flow, and preserve financial flexibility so that we can act as conditions and opportunities evolve. These priorities, backed by the expertise and execution of Team Dow, are how we will build a stronger, more competitive company today and over the long term. Now we will use the rest of the time we have today to address your questions. Andrew, please get us started.

Thank you, Karen. Now let's move on to your questions. I would like to remind you that our forward-looking statements apply to both our prepared remarks and the following Q&A. Operator, please provide the Q&A instructions.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin our Q&A session. If you have dialed in and would like to ask a question, please press star one, followed by one on your telephone keypad. If you would like to withdraw your question, please press star one again. We kindly ask that everyone limit themselves to one question. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Your first question comes from the line of Hassan Ahmed from Alembic Global Advisors. Please go ahead.

Morning, Karen and Jeff. A two-part question on polyethylene pricing. If I heard you guys correctly, you are talking about a $0.02 per pound sequential margin improvement sort of embedded in your Q4 guidance. It seems there has been a series of price hikes for October as well as November. The first part of the question is, why are you guys only factoring in a $0.02 per pound margin improvement? Then, as you look at 2027, how sustainable are the current sort of higher prices, particularly sort of in a scenario where the Middle East normalizes, let us assume sort of more Chinese capacity comes online as well?

Thanks, Hassan, for the question. Good to hear from you. Let me talk about the $0.02 per pound global integrated margin improvement first. That assumes that the September price increases average throughout the quarter. You are absolutely right. We have additional nominations on the table, and we believe that the market dynamics that we are currently facing will get those into the books. You think about the higher feedstocks, so I am not just talking about oil, but naphtha. We are seeing ethane a bit on the rise as well. If we are able to achieve the $0.07 that we have on the table for October and the $0.05 in November, that will provide an upside to our fourth quarter guide. That is going to also depend on how far the feedstock costs rise.

If we are able to get all of that, and get additional margin, think about that upside in the range of $200 million. $0.01 Per pound price increase is about $50 million per quarter. Let me go to the second part of your question, and then Jeff, if you have any other comments that you want to make. Listen, we are planning to end the year with momentum. We came out of the third quarter with momentum. We think about September getting the $0.05, but also ACC data. DOI declined by more than five days. Inventory declined by over 400 million pounds. China is back in the market. From a Dow perspective, our sales grew double digits from a polyethylene perspective as we ended third quarter. We are getting more growth in the fourth quarter as well. Spot prices are also on the rise.

We expect that we are going to end the fourth quarter with momentum going into 2027. That is also why our guide in fourth quarter is flat with the first quarter. It is not just about polyethylene price and market dynamics, but the story is also about our self-help. The reason that we have a guide of flat to third quarter is because lower turnarounds, but also our self-help is going to offset the typical seasonality that we see. We should go into 2027 with that momentum, and we expect from an oil to gas ratio that it will remain constructive. Of course, we are going to continue to double down on our advantage feedstock capacity here in North America. Jeff, anything else you want to say about 2027?

Yeah. Good morning, Hassan. The only other thing that I would add to 2027 is the fact that our self-help actions will be a key tailwind going into the new year. You heard in my prepared remarks, our expectation is that our tailwind, purely on self-help, will deliver about $1.3 billion in 2027. So that will be something that we can control as Team Dow that will be part of our bottom line value generation going from 2026 to 2027.

Your next question comes from the line of Vincent Andrews from Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Wanted to follow up on the feedstock cost side of the equation. Karen, you did mention ethane's had a bit of a move, so has propane and butane, in the U.S. Wonder if you could just sort of put some characterization around that move, what do you think is causing it, and how durable is it versus a slightly lower move up in natural gas prices? And just what in particular do you have baked in for the fourth quarter? Thank you.

Hi, Vincent. Thanks for the question. You're right, U.S. ethane prices have moved higher in recent weeks, and it's actually outpacing natural gas. That's driven by a few factors. First of all, growing exports. You got the new cracker capacity on the U.S. Gulf Coast preparing to start up. That's another reason. But also you're seeing that international crackers are leaning more heavily on ethane in their mix, given elevated oil prices. But I do want to highlight that even with that, current levels really do remain materially below the peaks that we saw back in 2022. And also it's roughly in line with five-year averages. So, the market here remains really well supplied. You're seeing U.S. production of 3,300,000 bbl per day. That's a record. And inventories also still remain above historical norm.

Our guide, our fourth quarter guide, contemplates that ethane will be in the mid to high $0.20 per gallon range, so that is marginally lower than where we sit today. Maybe just a rule of thumb, every $0.03 per gallon of ethane translates to about $0.01 per pound of polyethylene price needed to cover that cost. As you heard on my last answer, we have much larger price increases on the table for fourth quarter. So that is the $0.07 per pound in October and the $0.05 per pound in November. Maybe just another important point is global polyethylene prices, of course, are set by naphtha-based production. With oil and naphtha still elevated, that oil to gas spread is going to remain constructive and it continues to sit well above prior year averages.

That makes, of course, ethane the lowest cost feedstock in the world, and that is where the majority of our capacity sits. So it is an advantage for now.

Your next question comes from the line of Patrick Cunningham from Citi. Please go ahead.

Dow (DOW) Q3 2026 Earnings Call Transcript

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