DuPont sees economic recovery in near future

According to Reuters, DuPont said a U.S. economic recovery was beginning to take hold and forecast their 2010 profit growth in line with Wall Street estimates. The outlook comes as the chemical industry struggles to recover from a recession that sharply curtailed demand. Many of DuPont''s customers, including automakers and electronics manufacturers, cut their spending during the past year. As a consequence, DuPont aggressively slashed costs and realigned its business earlier this year to try to rebound quicker. The company forecast sales for the year of $29 billion, higher than analysts'' forecast of $28.12 billion. The bullish outlook comes despite the 2010 loss of patent protection for the blood pressure drugs Cozaar and Hyzaar. The drugs are expected to add $1.1 billion to DuPont''s pre-tax earnings this year. That is expected to drop to between $300 million and $350 million next year, and to $70 million in 2012. The company expects earnings per share to grow at a compound annual rate of 20 percent over the next three years. Emerging markets are expected to help fuel much of that growth, the Wilmington, Delaware-based based company said. Over the next three years, revenue from emerging markets -- countries like India and China, among others -- is expected to jump 50 percent to $12 billion. To help fuel that growth, the company has slashed staff in developed areas like the United States and Europe, and boosted staffing in Latin America, Asia/Pacific and Eastern Europe.