By Al Root

Solstice Advanced Materials showed a lot of momentum in its first-quarter earnings report. Investors' reaction, however, showed some nerves.

Tuesday morning, the maker of refrigerants and uranium hexafluoride, an intermediate product for nuclear fuel, reported first-quarter earnings per share of 63 cents from sales of $991 million. Wall Street was looking for 62 cents and $$974 million, respectively.

Shares were down 3.1% at $81 in premarket trading, while S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 0.9% and 1%, respectively.

One issue was that the company didn't raise full-year guidance. It still expects sales in the range of $3.9 billion to $4.1 billion, earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization, or Ebitda, of $975 million to $1,025 million, and earnings per share of $2.45 to $2.75.

Wall Street projects sales of $4 billion, Ebitda of $1 billion, and earnings per share of $2.70.

Everything is about as expected. Still, investors like guidance raises. It was "a strong start" to the year, CEO David Sewell tells Barron's. It's just early, and there is a lot of "macroeconomic uncertainty."

That's a good reason for conservatism. He feels good about the business, though. Refrigerant sales grew 19%, nuclear sales grew 27%, and electronic materials sales grew 21%.

All those sales have an AI angle. Refrigerants are being used in AI data center HVAC systems. Electronic materials are sold to chip makers. And nuclear power is booming thanks to accelerating electricity demand driven by AI data centers.

One area of weakness was construction. Building-related sales dropped 8% year over year. The housing industry remains weak amid higher-than-hoped-for interest rates.

Starting points might be hitting the stock, too. Coming into Wednesday trading, Solstice stock was up 72% this year. Shares have performed well since the company was spun out of Honeywell on Oct. 30.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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May 06, 2026 08:41 ET (12:41 GMT)

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