Celanese (CE 10.00%) clearly happened upon the right formula to please shareholders on Tuesday. The chemical company's stock was soaring almost 10% higher in late-session trading that day, following the release of satisfying first-quarter results. That performance was in marked contrast to the benchmark S&P 500 index, which was in negative territory with a 0.4% slide.

Declining yet beating

Celanese published those quarterly figures after market hours Monday, and investors wasted little time the following day pushing into the stock. This, despite the fact that net sales slumped by nearly 9% year over year to slightly under $2.4 billion, and the company flipped to a generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) net loss of $21 million from the year-ago profit of $121 million.

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At least the non-GAAP (adjusted) bottom line looked better. It landed in the black at $0.57 per share yet was down from the Q1 2024 profit of $2.08.

Yet analysts were expecting worse for both metrics. Their consensus estimate for revenue was under $2.3 billion and $0.39 for adjusted net income.

Those declines were largely expected by both pundits and investors. In its earnings release, Celanese chalked them up to "persistent global demand sluggishness." This was fairly widespread and extended into important customer segments for the company such as the automobile and construction industries.

Tariff resilience

In addition to the better-than-expected trailing performance, Celanese management also sounded an optimistic note on the effect the tariff war might have on the company.

It quoted CEO Scott Richardson as saying that

Our global production network provides us flexibility to manage most of the direct cost impacts of the current tariff conditions. Due to our mitigation preparations, we don't anticipate direct tariff impact in the second quarter.

That's music to investors' ears, and it's helped flag Celanese as a company that might be more resilient than most if the tariff tussle continues.