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By Seher Dareen
(Reuters) -DuPont de Nemours on Tuesday forecast 2025 profit above Wall Street estimates on strong demand for electronics, sending shares of the industrial materials maker up nearly 7% in morning trading.
A rapidly growing market for semiconductors used in artificial intelligence-based technology is benefiting DuPont, which supports advanced chip manufacturing, packaging and assembly processes.
AI-related revenues jumped 30% in the fourth quarter and are expected to grow further this year when the company spins off its electronics segment, company executives said on a post-earnings call.
DuPont plans to spin off its electronics business, biggest in terms of turnover, by November 1, and expects to announce executive leadership and board members, as well as begin reporting under the new structure in the first quarter of 2025.
The unit reported a 10.6% jump in fourth-quarter net sales, helping the company also beat profit estimates.
The company had earlier planned to split into three publicly traded units to pursue focused growth, but has now decided against selling its water and protection unit.
The segment, which had been on a decline due to weak China demand, posted a 6.4% increase in fourth-quarter sales, largely helped by higher volumes for medical packaging products.
The unit, which manufactures water purification technologies and provides medical packaging, is expected to see a mid-high single-digit percentage growth this year, executives said, adding that the company intends to invest in mergers and acquisitions in the segment.
DuPont forecast full-year adjusted earnings between $4.30 and $4.40 per share for the whole company, compared with analysts' expectation of $4.33 per share, according to data compiled by LSEG.
For the fourth quarter, Dupont reported an adjusted profit of $1.13 per share, beating analysts' average expectation of 98 cents.
(Reporting by Seher Dareen in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli)
