By Dominic Chopping

BASF shares fell Friday after the German chemical group pre-released earnings that fell short of both its guidance and consensus expectations.

Shares were 1.6% lower in early European trade.

The company said late Thursday that adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization landed at 6.6 billion euros ($7.76 billion) in 2025, shy of the company's guided 6.7 billion to 7.1 billion euros range and Vara consensus of 6.7 billion euros.

Analysts at Citi said the result shouldn't come as a massive surprise as management had stated in December that the company was striving to achieve the low-end of the range.

"Still, we did not expect the company to warn and, accordingly, view this as a negative."

The BASF announcement is light on details, which makes it difficult to draw any firm conclusions or judge what the ramifications will be for 2026, Citi added.

On a reported basis, BASF's EBIT stood at 1.6 billion euros, below the 2.2 billion euros Vara consensus expectation, weighed by sharply higher restructuring costs.

The company is undergoing a comprehensive restructuring that involves streamlining its portfolio, selling noncore assets, spinning off its agricultural business and cutting jobs. It said Thursday that it is progressing faster than planned with restructuring measures.

It said full-year sales were roughly in line with consensus, as volumes increased slightly while negative currency effects and slightly lower prices held back the sales development.

Net income beat consensus after a higher-than-expected one-off dividend payment from Wintershall-DEA, the business it sold to Harbour Energy for cash and stock.

Analysts at J.P. Morgan said the weaker adjusted earnings might result in a further 2% to 3% downside to 2026 consensus adjusted Ebitda and 5% downside to 2026 consensus adjusted earnings per share expectations.

"Given the likelihood of further material estimate cuts due to structural and cyclical headwinds, the current premium valuation appears vulnerable," the analysts said.

The results don't bode well for the coming earnings season for the broader sector, they added.

BASF will report its full-year results on Feb. 27.

Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 23, 2026 03:15 ET (08:15 GMT)

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