A Chemical Waltz: Wilshire’s Gamble Amidst Huntsman’s Plunge

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In the labyrinth of Wall Street’s chemical maze, where molecules and money conspire in a perpetual waltz, First Wilshire Securities Management recently executed a pirouette of its own. On November 14, the California-based fund disclosed the acquisition of 431,403 additional shares in Huntsman Corporation, a transaction that swelled its stake by $2.87 million-a sum that, in the grand theater of finance, might be dismissed as a mere curtain call were it not for the tragicomedy playing out in the background.

What Happened

The SEC filing, a document as dry as the polyurethanes Huntsman produces, revealed that First Wilshire’s third-quarter purchases had inflated its position in HUN to 1.13 million shares, valued at $10.13 million by quarter’s end. This numerical ballet was no accident of arithmetic but a calculated choreography, blending fresh acquisitions with the ebb and flow of share prices like a chemist balancing equations. The fund’s latest move, however, reads less like a scientific formula and more like a poet’s gamble-betting on a revival in a stock that has plummeted 45% over the past year, a decline so steep it would make a black swan envious.

What Else to Know

Huntsman now constitutes 2.7% of First Wilshire’s 13F assets, a figure that might seem modest until one peers into the fund’s portfolio. There, among the NASDAQ tickers and NYSE symbols, lies a menagerie of out-of-favor heavyweights: EZPW ($41.65 million), LBTYA ($26.48 million), CAMT ($21.68 million), ECVT ($19.12 million), and SGOV ($17.97 million). These holdings, like forgotten operas in a dusty library, suggest a fund manager with a taste for contrarian ballads. Huntsman’s $9.90 share price, meanwhile, hangs in the air like a half-remembered pun-poised between despair and the faintest glimmer of hope.

Company Overview

Metric Value
Revenue (TTM) $5.78 billion
Net Income (TTM) ($329.00 million)
Dividend Yield 3.5%
Price (as of Wednesday) $9.90

Company Snapshot

  • Huntsman Corporation, a titan in the realm of specialty chemicals, weaves its magic across industries as disparate as automotive and textiles, crafting products that transform raw materials into solutions. Its portfolio, a mosaic of polyurethanes and performance polymers, serves as both alchemy and arithmetic.
  • The company’s business model, a study in duality, thrives on the tension between global scale and niche innovation. It is here, in the interplay of mass production and bespoke chemistry, that Huntsman’s true genius resides.
  • Its clientele-adhesives, aerospace, and ad infinitum-form a constellation of dependencies, each sector a star in the galaxy of Huntsman’s operations. Yet, as with all constellations, the light can be fleeting.

At its core, Huntsman is a paradox: a firm burdened by the weight of industrial cycles yet buoyed by the buoyancy of cash flow. The third quarter, for instance, yielded $200 million in operating cash flow and $157 million in free cash flow-a feat akin to finding a silver lining in a cloud made of lead. Even as GAAP net losses loom, the company’s liquidity ($1.4 billion) and restructuring savings ($100 million+) hint at a resilience that defies the odds.

Foolish Take

This is not a tale of redemption but of endurance. Huntsman’s 65% dividend reset, a move that might have been dismissed as a surrender flag, instead reads as a pragmatic recalibration-a realist’s nod to the fickle gods of capital. First Wilshire’s bet, meanwhile, is a masterstroke of misdirection: investing in a cyclical beast while betting on the eventual return of pricing stability. The fund’s portfolio, heavy with asset-rich, sentiment-starved names, suggests a manager who sees value not in momentum but in the quiet potential of operating leverage. It is a strategy that rewards patience, that demands the reader (or investor) to look beyond the quarterly noise and into the alchemical slow burn of industrial recovery. ♟️

Glossary

13F assets under management: A ledger of securities reported to the SEC, a financial diary written in numbers.
AUM (Assets Under Management): The sum of all investments a fund manages, a numerical tapestry woven with risk and reward.
Dividend yield: A ratio of dividends to share price, a poetic measure of generosity.
Trailing twelve months (TTM): Financial history compressed into a year, a snapshot in time.
Buy (in fund context): An acquisition, a strategic addition to a portfolio’s mosaic.
Reportable AUM: Assets required to be disclosed, a transparency pact with regulators.
Stake: Ownership, a claim on a company’s future.
Net loss: When expenses eclipse revenues, a financial winter.
Specialty chemical products: Compounds crafted for specific purposes, the Swiss Army knives of industry.
End markets: The final destinations of a product’s journey, the sectors where value is realized.
Quarter end: The fiscal punctuation mark, a period after a sentence of three months.
Top five holdings: The portfolio’s aristocracy, the investments that command the most attention.

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2025-12-25 03:30