(This story was updated to clarify the process by which the school district investigated one alleged victim's complaint.) The girl's voice cracked and tears ran down her cheeks as she stood in the Westlake High School quad and told a few hundred of her classmates about being pressured and coerced into sex You don't understand what I'm going through." For most of fourth period and into lunch on May 2 one student after another took the microphone and shared stories of sexual harassment They cheered the speakers and held signs that said hundreds of students walked out of class at noon a few dozen students and parents demonstrated just off campus The students who spoke at the campus protests and at the board meetings say their campus is rife with harassment a few students said boys at the school will often make comments like "consent is so last year," or "consent is so 2020," and multiple girls said boys have taken photos of them under their desks and has heard boys talk about "how easy a girl would be to rape Seeing hundreds of students walk out of class to protest this type of behavior was "really impactful," she said during the second demonstration It seemed like it was more than half of the school was there," she said "It was eye-opening for a lot of kids who are standing up." The students say school administrators have not taken their complaints of sexism and harassment seriously They also say that reports of sexual assault are not treated with the proper care and have not resulted in any consequences for the accused students District officials would not comment on specific incidents or allegations but they said they have acted appropriately and followed state and federal laws when addressing all complaints of student misconduct Principal Jason Branham said the school "is dedicated to transparency and cultivating safe spaces for all students to learn." "Please know that we take every reported safety incident/concern seriously and we continue to follow all protocols and procedures outlined by state law federal law and education code," Branham's email says administrators and elected board members say they were surprised by the discontent at Westlake High The district surveys its high school students annually and sexual harassment and abuse were not among the top concerns of Westlake High students in this year's survey Conejo Unified's assistant superintendent of instructional and student services Loo said he also hasn't seen any uptick in formal complaints or student discipline in those areas the president of the Conejo Valley Unified School District board said she was taken aback by the comments made to the board during its April meetings "I'm not going to lie and say it was easy to hear those things," Powell said "We're here for the kids and we want them to feel supported and know they are in a safe place every time they walk onto a school campus the Conejo Unified board will hear a presentation from Loo and an attorney for the district on Title IX the federal law that prohibits sex-based discrimination in schools and how the district responds to complaints about harassment and non-discriminatory educational experience." The resolution calls for the district to solicit more community input and student input and to undertake new efforts to educate students about sexual misconduct and how to prevent and respond to it the board will review the district's progress on the matter and consider additional measures Powell asked the students and parents who spoke to meet with district officials about their concerns Loo said the district made contact with most of them the next day "We want to have two-way dialogue with the folks who have come forward," he said Part of our responsibilities as a school district is to listen to our students and respond appropriately." There have been three formal complaints of sexual assault or harassment at Westlake High since the current school year began last August Two were filed under the state of California's "Uniform Complaints" procedure The students who filed two of those complaints attended one of the protests on May 2 and spoke with The Star about their experiences The Star does not identify victims of sexual assault or harassment one current Westlake High student and one former student said they were sexually assaulted by the same boy Both said they reported the incidents to school administrators and did not feel that they were treated with respect and sensitivity They also spoke to a school resource officer — a Ventura County sheriff's deputy assigned to the schools — but neither girl has pursued a criminal investigation I just didn't want him to go to my school anymore," said one of the girls and said she was sexually assaulted on campus She said she told "a trusted adult" who works at the school about it early in her senior year "I struggled for a while with fragmented memories about it," she said and she said the principal conducted the initial investigation She said the experience was "horrible." He was "cold unempathetic and not respectful" and seemed like he just wanted the matter to go away She said the district did not take any action against the boy The appeal will be heard by an outside attorney who specializes in Title IX cases "It's really upsetting to me that I've lost my whole senior year to this," the girl said She did not speak during the walkout and demonstration but said she felt "incredibly empowered" knowing that her story helped motivate so many others to speak out "My first thought was that I'm not alone." a sophomore who left Westlake High and is now enrolled in a private school also reported a sexual assault by the same boy when she was a freshman and he was a junior The school also took no action based on her report She said her new school doesn't have anything like the climate of sexism harassment and male entitlement that she found in her year at Westlake High "Guys had a lot of expectations of what girls should do on a first date and the guys talked to girls so inappropriately," she said "I think the boys have seen that they can get away with it." Both girls were not happy with the experiences they had speaking with the sheriff's deputies who serve as school resource officers a commander with the Ventura County Sheriff's Office who is the chief of police for the city of Thousand Oaks said he has reviewed body camera footage of those interviews and concluded that the school resource officers acted appropriately gets specialized training" in how to deal with sexual assault reports They get the best training and the most training of any of our detectives." Paris said people sometimes feel that if they tell police they were a victim of a crime and no arrest is made "I can interview a girl and completely believe her story and interview a boy and know he's lying Paris said sexual assault is the most underreported type of crime But teachers and school officials are legally required to tell law enforcement and child welfare officers whenever they learn of suspected sexual abuse and Paris said his officers investigate every report as best they can Paris said he thinks law enforcement officers are the right people to investigate sexual assaults and other crimes They have powers that school officials don't have to obtain search warrants and gather evidence "If we become aware of an allegation of a crime we’re going to try to interview that person" who says they were victimized so we’re stuck sometimes with that scenario." Tony Biasotti is an investigative and watchdog reporter for the Ventura County Star. Reach him at tbiasotti@vcstar.com This story was made possible by a grant from the Ventura County Community Foundation's Fund to Support Local Journalism “I am excited to join a program with such a strong tradition of academic and athletic excellence,” said Burr “I’m looking forward to building on that legacy guiding our athletes to reach their greatest potential and competing at the highest level with pride Nailes did a great job in his first and only year at the helm going 24-8 and deep into the sectional and state playoffs Harvard-Westlake's search was reignited which led them to Burr who is one of the winning girls basketball coaches in Southern California in the last four years Burr is 87-32 in his last four seasons as a head coach — all ending in CIF Southern Section championships. The feat is historic being the first girls basketball coach to win four straight CIF titles with two different programs Burr led Viewpoint to a Division 1 title in 2022 before winning three straight at Oak Park in 2023 the Eagles climbed divisions each time — winning Division 5A A post shared by Tarek Fattal (@_tarekfattal) Deana Thompson and Bella Spencer will graduate in a month center Valentina Guerrero and Oyinkansola Iriafen — younger sister of Kiki Iriafen — will return to play for Burr next season Juniors-to-be Madison Gillett and Hollen Vann will be top players shiny toy for Burr will be incoming freshman Lucia Khamenia younger daughter of McDonald's All-American and Duke commit Nik Khamenia who is expected to be a standout player herself Bookmark High School on SI for all of the latest high school sports news To get live updates on your phone — as well as follow your favorite teams and top games — you can download the SBLive Sports app:  Download iPhone App | Download Android App TAREK FATTALTarek Fattal has been covering high school sports since 2015 in Southern California and primarily in Los Angeles covering notable athletes such as Bronny James He was with the LA Daily News for eight years which included being the beat reporter for the UCLA men's basketball team Tarek can be seen on TV regularly on CBS/KCAL as a sports analyst with Jim Hill © 2025 ABG-SI LLC - SPORTS ILLUSTRATED IS A REGISTERED TRADEMARK OF ABG-SI LLC The content on this site is for entertainment and educational purposes only Betting and gambling content is intended for individuals 21+ and is based on individual commentators' opinions and not that of Sports Illustrated or its affiliates All picks and predictions are suggestions only and not a guarantee of success or profit If you or someone you know has a gambling problem crisis counseling and referral services can be accessed by calling 1-800-GAMBLER The UIL state golf tournaments for boys are Monday and Tuesday at five locations in Central Texas The 6A tournament will be held at White Wing Golf Club in Georgetown 5A will be at Legacy Hills Golf Club in Georgetown and 4A is set for Legends Golf Course in Kingsland the 3A field will tee off at Jimmy Clay Golf Course in Austin while the 2A tournament takes place at Lions Municipal Golf Course in Austin Last year Lake Travis was crowned Class 6A team champion breaking a seven-year reign by rival Westlake Both teams are back and are considered among the favorites to win this week MORE: Our Austin area's top teams and players in this year's state playoffs Mackey Beckett, Lake Travis: The Cavalier junior was a major piece for the 2024 team that won the Class 6A team championship Beckett takes a 71.94 scoring average to White Wing this week He helped this year's Lake Travis team reach the state tournament by shooting 68-75 at the Region IV tournament two weeks ago 32 high school golfer in the country by the American Junior Golf Association His season includes an individual title at the Region IV tournament two weeks ago he already has made a commitment to play for the University of Texas after he graduates in 2026 Neidel was part of the 2023 Cavalier team that finished second in the Class 6A state tournament in 2023 he brings a 72.06 tournament average to White Wing That included a school-record 65-66 during an October tournament He will play next season at Jacksonville (Ala.) State Hays: The Hawk senior qualified for the 5A tournament as an individual he ranks among the top 15 players in the state in 5A the two-time district champion recently finished third at the Region IV tournament in McAllen He will attend Sam Houston State University on an athletic scholarship Year 2 of boys high school volleyball in the state of Utah should be even better than Year 1 Last season the state crowned its first four state champions in boys volleyball: Pleasant Grove in Class 6A Pine View in Class 4A and Grantsville in Class 3A Play improved dramatically over the course of the season producing high-level volleyball in the all of the finals 1 seed in 6A after rolling to 14 consecutive victories Westlake rolled through Region 3 unbeaten (10-0) after taking down Cedar Valley in a sweep on Friday Junior Kilika Tafa has 286 kills and gets offensive help from junior Kyson Ririe (181 kills) senior Parker Swenson (178 kills) and sophomore Thomas Wood (142) kills with senior setter Keagan Cundiff (826 assists) directing things “It’s been such a blessing to coach this team,” Westlake coach Whitney Randall said “At the end of the season last year we did not end up how we wanted to So we spent a lot of time talking about it and training some specific things to kind of bridge some of the gaps we saw last year Coming in and beating a tough region in No 3 from last year is something that we’re really proud of and we’re hoping to take that energy into the state tournament.” The 6A Tournament has two first round matches on Monday then runs Friday and Saturday with the championship match at 4:30 p.m It would take a tremendous upset to derail No 1 Maple Mountain (25-1) from winning a second straight 5A title led by 6-foot-7 BYU signee Trey Thornton and 6-7 setter Taft Hillman have won 38 straight matches against Utah competition there are a couple of dangerous candidates in the tournament field 2 Bountiful (24-4) has won 12 matches in a row and No 4 Alta (18-7) is 10-1 in its past 11 matches The catalyst for the Hawks has been been another BYU signee a 6-foot-6 outside hitter who is the son of former Cougar great Victor Batista Corbin Batista transferred to Alta from Snow Canyon in St George and wasn’t eligible to start the season In 11 matches he is averaging 5.2 kills per set and hitting .399 Maple Mountain knows it has a big target on its back and welcomes the challenge and that is to win state again,” Golden Eagles coach Napoleon Galang said “Every day in the gym we give the players challenges We have to keep them challenged in every aspect of the game The 4A tournament begins with first round matches on Monday leading to Friday’s second round and finally the championship match on Saturday at 7 p.m Orem (22-6) is right back where it was to start last year’s tournament as the No The Tigers lost a heartbreaking five-set match to Pine View in the 4A final Orem setter Lucky Jennings has a lot of options to feed including leading hitter Ben Hone (203 kills) and middles Aaron Nielsen and Luke Wolsey who has coached the Orem girls team to back-to-back state titles said the state tournament is as much a mental challenge as it is a physical one “We’ve been able to meet with one of our psychologists I think that’s one thing that’s kind of helped us We had a tough loss against Riverton a few weeks ago we met with sports psychologists and that helped us work on how to be mentally tough and be more present within the game.” The other challengers in the tournament are No Play begins Wednesday and concludes with the championship match on Thursday at 4:30 p.m The 3A tournament runs concurrently with the 4A and is also Wednesday and Thursday LLC | www.heraldextra.com | 1200 Towne Centre Blvd On May 5, 2025, Barclays analyst Michael Leithead released new insights on Westlake (WLK, Financial) highlighting significant adjustments to the company's financial outlook The investment firm has maintained its "Overweight" rating for Westlake (WLK) reflecting continued confidence in the stock's market position despite recent challenges Notably, Barclays has decided to lower its price target for Westlake (WLK, Financial) from a previous $135.00 to $100.00 This adjustment represents a -25.93% change in the price target signaling a recalibration in market expectations While the price target has been lowered, the consistent "Overweight" rating suggests that Westlake (WLK, Financial) may still present a valuable investment opportunity with potential for growth beyond current price levels Investors should consider these changes and assess how they align with personal investment strategies Based on the consensus recommendation from 19 brokerage firms, Westlake Corp's (WLK, Financial) average brokerage recommendation is currently 2.4 Louisville Leopards Athletics News & Video: Leopard Nation <<< Vs. Notre Dame (CA) | Girls Lacrosse Schedule | Next At GlenOak >>> The Louisville Leopards Girls Varsity Lacrosse Team fell 9-2 to the visiting Westlake Demons Saturday afternoon at Louisville Leopards Stadium the Leopards drop to 2-10 on the season while the Demons improve to 6-7 overall View Recap | View Box Score Live Stream Courtesy of YSN Live Kasey Lint got the Lady Leopards on the board with a highlight-reel play to close out the first quarter Lint intercepted a pass roughly 15 yards out and finished with a goal to cut the deficit to 3-1 with just 9 seconds remaining in the opening period Gianna Pentito followed up with a second-quarter goal on a clean free position opportunity with 7:32 left in the half bringing the Leopards to within one at 3-2 That would be the closest Louisville came as the Demons shut them out in the second half while adding six unanswered goals to pull away Sophia Frey and Megan Klima both recorded hat tricks to lead Westlake Frey then added a pair of goals in a span of 19 seconds to give the Lady Demons a commanding 3-0 first quarter lead Frey also added a goal in the third quarter and Klima notched the final two goals of the contest in a span of 62 seconds to put Westlake in front 9-2 and Anika Feldkircher also found the back of the net in the second half to help the Demons build separation This is the first-ever meeting between Louisville and Westlake in girls lacrosse The Lady Demons are the fourth new team the Lady Leopards have challenged this season They are also the 37th different opponent Louisville Girls Lacrosse has faced in program history UP NEXT: The Louisville Girls Lacrosse Team will next travel to take on the GlenOak Golden Eagles on Monday Varsity will begin at 6:00 PM and JV will follow around 7:30 PM from Bob Commings Field You can also Submit an Article WESTLAKE – Sophia Frey | LHS 0 LOUISVILLE – Kasey Lint | LHS 1 LOUISVILLE – Gianna Pentito | LHS 2 WESTLAKE – Finley Carlson | LHS 2 WESTLAKE – Sophia Frey | LHS 2 WESTLAKE – Abbi Zarlinga | LHS 2 WESTLAKE – Anika Feldkircher | LHS 2 WESTLAKE – Megan Klima | LHS 2 Louisville Leopards Athletics News & Video: Leopard Nation © 2025 Powered by  - Designed with the Hueman theme Monday - Friday 9am-12pm / 2pm-6pm GMT + 1 All financial news and data tailored to specific country editions This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com Before you consider Westlake Chemical Partners MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on.. and Westlake Chemical Partners wasn't on the list While Westlake Chemical Partners currently has a Strong Buy rating among analysts top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys View The Five Stocks Here Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools Robert Caridi visited We Are Austin to share more about the world of rhinoplasty offering a peek into the transformative journey of nose reshaping Typically patients are not satisfied with their nose as-is and are seeking reshaping that looks natural a long hook nose-- there's some feature about their nose that they don't like and therefore they want to change it," he explained Recovery is about 5 days and then patients can see their new nose "It's so heartwarming for me to be part of their transformation and it has impact far greater than most people would think," Caridi added he said it's a procedure you should only leave to a seasoned professional "It's your job to really scrutinize your surgeons and make sure they muster up," Caridi suggested Westlake Plastic Surgery has been serving patients in Austin for 25 years The practice specializes in breast and nose surgeries the practice does fewer types of surgeries but the ones they offer are done exceptionally well For those contemplating rhinoplasty or interested in more information, connect with Westlake Plastic Surgery online or follow them on social media Fox 8 Cleveland WJW Westlake city officials are reminding residents to take extra precautions to keep their pets safe from coyotes Dramatic video shared by police in Oregon shows what is believed to be a road rage incident on a busy highway Rihanna and A$AP Rocky expecting their third third child together (Video credit: AP) The lone victim of a deadly plane crash Monday evening in Ashland County has been identified Residents of a Berea home escaped a house fire that broke out early Tuesday morning Another round of rain will develop on the backside of the low Tuesday afternoon/evening Scattered showers are decreasing through the late night and overnight There are still a few leftover showers and storms through late evening There's a new push to install seatbelts on school buses in one local district Akron police said they arrested a 31-year-old man who crashed his car into an apartment building striking a gas meter and prompting an evacuation then rammed a police cruiser multiple times hey're invisible invaders found in the air Tears of joy over a positive pregnancy test quickly turned to tears of fear for a Conneaut woman In recent stock market news, Truist Securities has announced updates regarding Westlake (WLK, Financial) a prominent player in the chemical industry analyst Peter Osterland has maintained his 'Buy' rating for the stock the price target for Westlake (WLK) has been adjusted The previous price target was set at USD 132.00 but Truist Securities has lowered this figure to USD 117.00 This reduction represents an 11.36% decrease in the projected valuation reflecting current market conditions and expectations Investors should note this change as it highlights adjustments in the analysis despite the consistent 'Buy' rating. Westlake (WLK, Financial) remains a recommended stock although its projected price target has been reevaluated according to the latest insights from analyst Peter Osterland at Truist Securities Daily HeraldWestlake boys volleyball coach Whitney Randall (center) talks to her team during a time out of a Region 3 match against Lone Peak on Thursday Kalika Tafa made the somewhat surprising admission that he wasn’t really listening during the final timeout of Westlake’s four-set win over Lone Peak (28-26 Surprising since Tafa knew exactly what to do in ushering in a nearly flawless close to the fourth set to avoid a fifth and secure his team’s 21st win of the season scoring the team’s final five points to pull off the win and avoid the dicey prospect of a fifth tiebreaking set Four of his points came off of thunderous kills with another off of a block with the Knights struggling to counterattack Tafa’s typical ferocity at the net I didn’t pay attention during that timeout I was just telling myself that I need to do this,” Tafa admitted ‘I got to help (my team) out.’ When I’m into the game I just kind of ignore everything.” Whatever inattention Tafa gave during the timeout probably didn’t bother Westlake coach Whitney Randall much which has benefited the Thunder tremendously The junior standout leads the team with 273 kills and aces (23) on the season to help forge Westlake’s current 21-5 record and 10-0 mark in Region 3 play and teammate Keagan Cundiff celebrate a point during a 6A boys volleyball state tournament match at the UCCU Center on Thursday “He is truly a remarkable player,” Randall said “My husband and I have been coaching him since he was 12 years old so just to see his growth and where he’s come is awesome The team really trusts him and looks to him as a player who can deliver on those big plays.” much like he always does regardless of the situation “Sometimes you have to learn to take your mistakes as they go and kind of move through them and that’s been something he’s been working on and it’s awesome to see,” Randall said his positive demeanor isn’t so much for his own play “Whenever I’m down I bring others down,” he said “So if I stay positive and play the best I can But Thursday’s win certainly wasn’t just about Tafa as several other players stepped up big including a group of seniors who were honored prior to their final match played on their home floor Standout seniors for the Thunder include Luke Barney Cundiff is a team captain and plays the pivotal role of setter while Schank leads the defense from his libero position and Swensen to both regards as the team’s primary opposite Tafa was mindful to praise each individual senior during his postgame interview for the contributions they’ve provided throughout his career at Westlake and even for those who don’t see a lot of time in the rotation “I love all our seniors from the bottom of my heart,” Tafa said Thursday’s win improves Westlake’s record to a perfect 10-0 in Region 3 play a mark Randall isn’t all that surprised by “I really did have high expectations for them throughout the season,” she said and we’d practice and come up with ways we could really attack each team With just one more game remaining in the regular season Westlake will then turn to the state tournament where the opportunity is certainly there to make a significant run to win it all “Our focus is to go one at a time because we can’t go straight to the end goal without focusing on the game ahead of it So we just have to stay humble and see what happens from there.” Truist analyst Peter Osterland has revised the price target for Westlake (WLK, Financial) he maintains a Buy rating on the company's shares following their first-quarter financial results Westlake's Performance and Essential Materials segment is expected to show improvement sequentially the segment may continue to face significant year-over-year margin pressure in the upcoming second quarter For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript Westlake had a return on equity of 6.93% and a net margin of 0.81% The business had revenue of $2.85 billion for the quarter compared to analysts' expectations of $2.97 billion the business earned $1.34 earnings per share The company's revenue for the quarter was down 4.3% on a year-over-year basis Shares of NYSE WLK traded down $1.48 on Monday The company had a trading volume of 1,848,761 shares The firm has a market capitalization of $10.07 billion The business has a 50 day moving average of $97.72 and a two-hundred day moving average of $112.64 Westlake has a 12-month low of $78.18 and a 12-month high of $161.31 a current ratio of 2.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.41 The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend This represents a $2.10 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.68% The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday Westlake's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.47% Several equities analysts have weighed in on WLK shares. StockNews.com raised Westlake from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday Bank of America upgraded shares of Westlake from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $116.00 to $75.00 in a report on Tuesday Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Westlake from $132.00 to $117.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Monday raised shares of Westlake from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $135.00 to $110.00 in a research note on Thursday BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Westlake from $157.00 to $132.00 and set a "market perform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $118.08 Read Our Latest Report on Westlake While Westlake currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts These 10 simple stocks can help beginning investors build long-term wealth without knowing options Share on FacebookShare on X (formerly Twitter)Share on PinterestShare on LinkedInWESTLAKE Ohio (WOIO) - The 22-year-old Westlake man arrested by the SWAT team early Wednesday after his partner was found laying in the street is now being held on a $1 million bond at the Cuyahoga County Jail Jahard Colon pleaded not guilty to felonious assault Thursday at Rocky River Municipal Court The judge did find Colon guilty of a probation violation and sentenced to him to 30 days Westlake Captain Gerald Vogel said they received multiple 911 calls around 2:30 a.m regarding a woman laying outside in the area of Canterbury and Center Ridge Roads Police said officers found the 25-year-old victim conscious Officers and detectives learned the victim had been at the Time Warp Bar earlier in the night and evidence technology and witnesses interviews led them to two persons of interest SWAT was then called in to execute a search warrant at a home on Center Ridge Road and Colon was arrested but police said he was not involved in the crime and is cooperating with the investigation Eight Austin-area baseball teams advanced to the area round of the UIL playoffs thanks to bi-district series wins Saturday. While Lake Travis and Round Rock completed sweeps Friday 6A DI: Johnson advances after Game 3 winJohnson 8 Laredo United 2: Mason Alaniz-Sendejo struck out seven and allowed no earned runs in 4 2/3 innings Ben Curry tossed 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief Thomas Schnabel had a two-run single and Selvin Garrett Luke Levassar and Cohen Beacom all had RBI hits as the Jaguars rebounded with two wins to take the series after dropping Game 1 on Thursday Gannon Plummer and Beacom both finished with two hits to pace Johnson which advanced in the playoffs as a 6A school for the first time Westlake 5: George Farley went 2-for-4 with a triple Kanyon Millar finished 2-for-5 with a double and two RBIs Carson Tan went 3-for-4 with a run driven in and Marshall Linenberger finished 3-for-5 with a triple as the Vipers won Game 2 Millar also struck out five in 4 1/3 innings for Vandegrift on the mound Ethan Lung blasted a grand slam to lead Westlake McNeil 1 (5): Dom Hurley went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs Cade Sanders finished 3-for-3 and drove in a run and Taylor Tracey Conner Helms and Gavin Hoel all had two hits as the Tigers completed the sweep Tracey scattered four hits and fanned three in four innings to pace Dripping Springs on the mound East View 5: Ben Waisman went 2-for-2 with a double Leo Trevino finished 2-for-3 with three runs driven in Darez Paiz tallied three hits and Gus Begert recorded two hits and three runs scored as the Trojans completed the sweep allowing no hits and striking out two to earn the win East View 2: Owen Thomas fanned five in 3 2/3 innings of relief Connor Comeau went 3-for-4 with a double and RBI and Waisman Trevino and Judaya Coulson all drove in runs to lead the Trojans to the Game 1 win Paiz and Trevino both finished with two hits More: Texas high school baseball playoffs: 5 Austin-area teams and 25 players to watch McCallum 2: Braedan Borger belted a two-run homer Cole McCracken had an RBI double and Jake McGuire scattered six hits and allowed no runs in 5 2/3 innings to lead the Hawks to complete the sweep in Game 2 McCallum 3: Camden Malott threw a complete game with seven strikeouts McCracken finished 2-for-4 with an RBI and McGuire and Connor Padilla each drove in a run to lead the Hawks in Game 1 Tommy McIntyre went 2-for-3 with a double to lead McCallum Rouse 2: Jacob Soliz went 2-for-2 with a run scored and Connor Thompson drove in a run as the Raiders were edged in Game 2 The series will be decided Monday when Game 3 takes place at Hays Smithson Valley 5: Mason Gonzalez finished 2-for-3 with two doubles and three RBIs Adolfo Erives drove in three runs and Jacob Sainz only allowed one run in 3 2/3 innings of relief to lead the Raiders in the series opener LASA 0 (5): David Fluitt threw a three-hit shutout with eight strikeouts Tate Ritchie finished 2-for-4 with two RBIs Cooper Thomas had a run-scoring triple and Hayden Grooms tallied two RBIs to lead the Eagles as they completed the series sweep Pieper 2: Jordan Andrews tossed a complete game with six strikeouts and the Panthers put up four runs in the bottom of the first as they won Game 2 to take the series Giancarlo Giletei’s two-run double and Carson Sharp’s RBI single highlighted Liberty Hill’s big frame with Journey Lowery adding an RBI single the next inning Lowery finished with two hits and Brady Gage added a double for the Panthers Bastrop 3: Jordan Benjamin went 3-for-5 with two RBIs and tossed three shutout innings in relief Jessie Hernandez went 2-for-3 with a double and RBI and Jorian Guinn finished 2-for-4 with a double and drove in a run to lead the Wolves in Game 2 Bastrop 1: Warnock singled and eventually stole home in the bottom of the eighth to give the Wolves a walkoff win in Game 1 scattering three hits and striking out nine in a clutch performance for Weiss on the mound He also helped himself going 2-for-4 at the plate with an RBI single Guinn went 2-for-4 with a triple in other notable offense for the Wolves A Barclays analyst has revised the price target for Westlake (WLK, Financial) the firm maintains an Overweight rating on the company's stock The adjustment comes in the wake of the recent Q1 report which highlighted ongoing cyclical challenges impacting Westlake's projected earnings for 2025 the analysis emphasizes that the company's cash flow has hit a low point but remains sustainable Westlake possesses significant financial flexibility described as having "ample balance sheet dry powder," which could support the firm through these challenging periods Westlake Chemical Partners LP (NYSE:WLKP - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped down before the market opened on Friday following a dissappointing earnings announcement Westlake Chemical Partners shares last traded at $23.30 with a volume of 10,730 shares trading hands The basic materials company reported $0.14 earnings per share for the quarter missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.38 by ($0.24) The company had revenue of $237.63 million for the quarter compared to analysts' expectations of $296.00 million Westlake Chemical Partners had a return on equity of 7.31% and a net margin of 5.40% May 13th will be given a dividend of $0.4714 per share This represents a $1.89 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 8.17% The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday Westlake Chemical Partners's payout ratio is currently 106.21% Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company Proficio Capital Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Westlake Chemical Partners in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,874,000 boosted its stake in Westlake Chemical Partners by 267.0% in the third quarter now owns 98,437 shares of the basic materials company's stock valued at $2,206,000 after acquiring an additional 71,615 shares in the last quarter grew its holdings in Westlake Chemical Partners by 5.4% in the fourth quarter now owns 558,919 shares of the basic materials company's stock worth $12,933,000 after purchasing an additional 28,430 shares during the last quarter acquired a new position in shares of Westlake Chemical Partners during the fourth quarter worth $456,000 Capital Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Westlake Chemical Partners during the 1st quarter valued at $231,000 78.28% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $23.27 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $23.38 a quick ratio of 4.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48 The stock has a market cap of $813.67 million a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.19 and a beta of 0.84 Enter your email address and we'll send you MarketBeat's list of seven best retirement stocks and why they should be in your portfolio has been arrested after being caught with a handgun ammunition and drugs inside Westlake High School The Charles County Sheriff’s Office said the 17-year-old has been charged as an adult when school officials noticed a “strong odor of cannabis” on the student a sheriff’s office news release said The sheriff’s office said the student became uncooperative and tried to leave the school when a school resource officer got involved and detained the student A search of the student’s bookbag found a loaded 9 mm handgun unused packaging materials and a weighing scale The gun is a privately made gun or “ghost gun” and has no serial number The student faces charges of carrying a loaded weapon possession with intent to distribute drugs and possession of a handgun without a serial number The student is being held at the Charles County Detention Center WTOP’s Grace Newton and Abigail Constantino contributed to this report Get breaking news and daily headlines delivered to your email inbox by signing up here This website is not intended for users located within the European Economic Area William Vitka is a Digital Writer/Editor for WTOP.com He's been in the news industry for over a decade The New York Post and wrote a variety of books—about a dozen of them A 64-year-old man was arrested for allegedly vandalizing a neighbor's home in Westlake on Thursday according to a report from the Westlake Police Department the department received a vandalism complaint from a Westlake resident at approximately 7:01 a.m. who said an older man had spray-painted her house Two officers were dispatched to the neighborhood they noticed the word a**hole spray-painted on the resident's garage door The resident told police the incident was caught on her Ring camera Westlake Police said that around 4:55 a.m. the 64-year-old poured a white substance that is believed to be sugar into the gas tank of the car in the resident's driveway He then spray-painted profanity on the garage and in front of the woman's residence The man also spray-painted the front-facing windows the main entrance and the Ring camera once he noticed it was there she and her husband were involved in a car crash with the 64-year-old man and she said that she believes he's responsible for the vandalism police found two plastic Ziploc bags filled with the same white substance that was poured into the gas tank on the roof of the car An empty spray paint can was found on the ground near the car along with a pair of clear plastic gloves and another spray can in front of the garage A reusable grocery bag filled with two more spray cans was found around the front of the house Westlake Police said they later spoke to the man as part of their investigation and he admitted to spray-painting his neighbor's home and blacking out her front windows He also added that he poured sugar in the car's gas tank in her driveway The man also added that he was not happy with how the car accident from a year ago was handled and said that was the reason that he vandalized her house The report noted that the 64-year-old had the same backpack as the one in the surveillance footage and contained the same plastic gloves The man was arrested and transported to the Westlake Police Department Jail for booking A few neighbors who did want to be identified said they weren't surprised when they heard what happened to the victims' home but because of the pattern of the erratic behavior we have seen as members of his neighborhood I wasn't surprised at all," said a community member neighbors said they have been living in fear and have called the police on the 64-year-old for separate incidents my wife was scared and I know the neighbors are scared because we never knew what he was capable of doing," said a community member  And now that the suspect is in jail facing multiple charges neighbors are hoping the behavior they have witnessed has come to an end You are using an outdated browser. Please upgrade your browser to improve your experience in collaboration with the Seattle Parks Foundation invites the community to participate in the future of Westlake Park This is an opportunity for the community to learn about the project review the latest design and provide input on play equipment This project aims to transform the heart of Seattle’s downtown core into a more vibrant Seattle Parks and Recreation promotes healthy people LyondellBasell (LYB) made two $40,000 contributions to the Westlake Fire and Police Departments to support first responder capability enhancements in Louisiana this $80k investment will equip both departments with the tools and resources needed to more efficiently respond to crisis situations In preparation for the I-10 bridge reconstruction the Westlake Fire Department will use this $40k contribution to purchase battery-powered extrication equipment that will provide more agility and response time during various emergency situations the Westlake Police Department will purchase new updated radio equipment for the entire department streamlining communication among officers and units For more information, visit lyb.com in collaboration with Seattle Parks Foundation is hosting an open house to share information on the park improvements at Westlake Park The April 16 open house will provide an opportunity for the community to learn about the updated designs and share feedback on Westlake Park improvements Project partners will also be there to share more information Westlake Park has long served as a central hub of activity in downtown Seattle The park project will implement necessary improvements in preparation for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and beyond Proposed improvements include enhanced lighting removal of aging park features and infrastructure and an inviting plaza for community gatherings and events For more information on the project please visit https://www.seattleparksfoundation.org/reimaginewestlake or contact Seattle Parks Foundation at info@seattleparksfoundation.org We recognise you are attempting to access this website from a country belonging to the European Economic Area (EEA) including the EU which enforces the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and therefore cannot grant you access at this time e-mail us at sales@lakeexpo.com or call us at 573-693-1990 Ohio (WOIO) - Two small dogs were recently attacked by coyotes in the city of Westlake Police took to social media to warn their residents about the attacks We have received 2 separate reports of Coyotes attacking small dogs in the city recently. This is just a reminder to stay in sight of your pets, mainly small dogs, when you let them out especially in the evening/night/dawn. Keep them on a leash if not in a fenced in yard. pic.twitter.com/RYqwiLYqXr Police said they wanted to remind you to stay in sight of your pets Keep them on a leash if not in a fenced-in yard We have received 2 separate reports of Coyotes attacking small dogs in the city recently. This is just a reminder to stay in sight of your pets, mainly small dogs, when you let them out especially in the evening/night/dawn. Keep them on a leash if not in a fenced in yard. pic.twitter.com/RYqwiLYqXr Please try using other words for your search or explore other sections of the website for relevant information Our team is working diligently to resolve the issue Thank you for your patience and understanding The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of Nasdaq This data feed is not available at this time These symbols will be available throughout the site during your session These instruments will be available throughout the site during your session Smart Portfolio is supported by our partner TipRanks. By connecting my portfolio to TipRanks Smart Portfolio I agree to their Terms of Use Our #1 AI Stock Pick is on a steep discount - 29.99$ instead of 99.99$! Click here to access exclusive research Westlake Chemical Partners LP (NYSE:WLKP) Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript May 2 Westlake Chemical Partners LP beats earnings expectations Welcome to the Westlake Chemical Partners First Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call During the presentation all participants will be listen-only mode we will be invited to participate the question-and-answer session I would now like to turn the call over to today’s host Westlake Chemical Partners’ Vice President and Treasurer and welcome to the Westlake Chemical Partners first quarter 2025 conference call our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and other members of our management team we refer to ourselves as Westlake Partners or the Partnership References to Westlake refer to our parent company Westlake Corporation; and references to OpCo refer to Westlake Chemical OpCo LP a subsidiary of Westlake and the Partnership we are referring to Westlake Chemical Partners’ MLP distributable cash flow Definitions of these terms are available on the Partnership’s website management is going to discuss certain topics that will contain forward-looking information that is based on management’s beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management These forward-looking statements suggest predictions or expectations and thus are subject to risks or uncertainties We encourage you to learn more about the factors that could lead our actual results to differ by reviewing the cautionary statements in our regulatory filings which are also available on our Investor Relations website Westlake Partners issued a press release with details of our first quarter 2025 financial and operating results This document is available in the Press Release section of our web page at wlkpartners.com A replay of today’s call will be available beginning two hours after the conclusion of this call The replay can be accessed via the Partnership website Please note that information reported on this call speaks only as of today you are advised that time-sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the time of any replay I would finally advise you that this conference call is being broadcast live through an Internet webcast system that can be accessed on our web page at wlkpartners.com Now I’d like to turn the call over to Jean-Marc Gilson And thank you for joining us to discuss our first quarter 2025 results In this morning’s press release we reported Westlake Partners’ first quarter 2025 net income of $5 million or $0.14 per unit our first quarter sales and earnings were impacted by the planned turnaround at a Petro 1 ethylene unit in Lake Charles Louisiana which resulted in lower production and sales volume in addition to higher maintenance capital expenditure The stability of Westlake Partners business model is consistently demonstrated through our fixed margin ethylene sales agreement which minimises market volatility and other production risk when paired with the predictability of our business has enabled us to deliver the long history of reliable distributions and coverage This quarter distribution is the 43rd consecutive quarterly distribution since our IPO in July of 2014 without any reductions I would now like to turn our call over to Steve we reported Westlake Partners’ first quarter 2025 net income of $5 million or $0.14 per unit including OpCo’s earnings was $42 million on consolidated net sales of $238 million The partnership had distributable cash flow for the quarter of $5 million or $0.13 per unit First quarter 2025 net income for Westlake Partners of $5 million was $10 million below the first quarter 2024 partnership net income primarily due to lower production and sales volume as a result of the planned turnaround at Petro 1 Distributable cash flow of $5 million for the first quarter of 2025 decreased by $12 million compared to the first quarter of 2024 due to the lower production and sales volume and higher maintenance capital expenditures as a result of the Petro 1 planned turnaround Turning our attention to the balance sheet and cash flows we had consolidated cash balance and cash investments with Westlake through our investment management agreement totaling $154 million Long-term debt at the end of the quarter was $400 million of which $377 million was at the Partnership and the remaining $23 million was at OpCo OpCo spent $16 million on capital expenditures We maintained our strong leverage metrics with a consolidated leverage ratio of approximately 1x we announced a quarterly distribution of $0.4714 per unit with respect to first quarter of 2025 the Partnership has made 43 consecutive quarterly distributions to unitholders and we have grown distributions 71% since the Partnership’s original minimum quarterly distribution of $0.275 per unit The Partnership’s first quarter distribution will be paid on May 29 Partnership’s predictable fee based cash flow continues to prove beneficial in today’s economic environment and is differentiated by the consistency of our earnings and cash flows we have maintained a cumulative distribution coverage ratio of approximately 1.1 times and with a Partnership stability in cash flows we were able to sustain our current distribution without the need to access the capital markets our Petro 1 ethylene unit began the restart from its planned turnaround on April 12 and continues to ramp up to meet market demand needs we have no further planned turnarounds in 2025 or 2026 Now I’d like to turn the call back over to Jean-Marc to make some closing comments We are pleased with the successful completion of the Petro 1 turnaround which positions us for solid production levels in the future Our first quarter financial performance was consistent with our expectations and prior experience during a period where a significant turnaround temporarily impacts our production and sales volume global trade tensions have intensified in recent weeks creating a heightened atmosphere of uncertainty for businesses and investors While trade negotiations are likely to continue to cause some market volatility the Partnership’s financial performance and distributions will continue to be supported by our ethylene sales agreement which provides a predictable fee based cash flow structure from our take or pay contract with Westlake for 95% of OpCo’s production As has been the case since our IPO over 10 years ago this ethylene sales agreement will continue to deliver stable and predictable cash flows through economics – through economic ups and downs as well as planned and unplanned turnarounds we maintain a strong balance sheet with conservative financial and leverage metrics As we continue to navigate market conditions we will evaluate opportunities via our four levers of growth in the future including increases of our ownership interest of OpCo acquisitions of other qualified income streams organic growth opportunities such as expansions of our current ethylene facilities and negotiation of a higher fixed margin in our ethylene sales agreement with Westlake We remain focused on our ability to continue to provide long-term value and distributions to our unitholders we will continue to focus on safe operations along with being good stewards of the environment where we work and live as part of our broader sustainability efforts Thank you very much for listening to our first quarter earnings call Now I will turn the call back over to John I would like to remind you that a replay of this teleconference will be available two hours after the call has ended We will provide instructions to access the replay at the end of the call [Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from Matthew Blair with TPH It seems like the financial impact of the Q1 turnaround at Petro 1 was a little bit more significant on your quarterly earnings than previous turnarounds Was that just a function of the size of the turnaround Or were there like any unplanned expenses that caused a bigger impact there It really went really as we had planned in terms of the impact We brought the unit down at the end of January it was down for the months of February and March And so we expect the unit to be down from a production perspective in those two months And so the impact for the quarter really was reflective of what’s going on I think you may be also factoring into the fact that we still are seeing elevated interest rates kind of weighing on the loan obligations that the company has That’s probably the factor that you might be thinking about because realistically the performance and its production over the course of the quarter was really as we had been expecting and frankly as we had internally budgeted And then the valuation difference between the parent Westlake and the MLP Westlake LP seems to have compressed lately Is there still enough of a valuation difference to justify keeping Westlake LP around it certainly has seen some compression in its valuations over the business cycle rather than at any current period in time the value proposition has continued to be there the markets have been challenged in terms of dropdown stories in the MLP space the valuation differential between the partnership where it trades and Westlake Corporation where it trades really over a reasonable cycle period of time remains pretty elevated [Operator Instructions] At this time the Q&A session has now ended I will now turn the call back over to John Zoeller John Zoeller: Thank you again for participating in today’s call We hope you will join us for our next conference call to discuss our second quarter 2025 results Operator: Thank you for participating in today’s Westlake Chemical Partners First Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call this call will be available for replay beginning two hours after the call has ended Artificial intelligence is the greatest investment opportunity of our lifetime The time to invest in 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Westlake Corporation reported earnings results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2025. For the first quarter, the company reported sales was USD 2,846 million compared to USD 2,975 million a year ago. Sales was USD 2,846 million compared to USD 2,975 million a year ago. Net loss was USD 40 million compared to net income of USD 174 million a year ago. Net loss was USD 40 million compared to net income of USD 174 million a year ago. Basic loss per share from continuing operations was USD 0.31 compared to basic earnings per share from continuing operations of USD 1.35 a year ago. Basic loss per share from continuing operations was USD 0.31 compared to basic earnings per share from continuing operations of USD 1.35 a year ago. Diluted loss per share from continuing operations was USD 0.31 compared to diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of USD 1.34 a year ago. Diluted loss per share from continuing operations was USD 0.31 compared to diluted earnings per share from continuing operations of USD 1.34 a year ago. in a self-professed effort to cause mass violence was sentenced this week to 85 years to life in prison Ventura County prosecutors say Austin Allen Eis, 26, carried out a series of “calculated attacks” on April 18 that began with a stabbing in Simi Valley and culminated in Eis slamming his car into the teens who were standing outside Westlake High School later admitted he targeted the teens out of personal frustration and a desire to commit mass violence Text messages and communications showed he held violent extremist beliefs for years and admired mass murders In February, Wesley’s parents watched as Eis, displaying little to no emotion, pleaded guilty to 10 felony charges — including first-degree murder, premeditated attempted murder, assault with a deadly weapon and false imprisonment by violence. California Man who mowed down students with his car, killing teen outside Westlake High, pleads guilty to murder rampage. During the two-day sentencing hearing this month, Wesley’s mother, Kelly, addressed Eis directly, telling him that no nightmare is worse than knowing that his face is the last thing her son might have seen. “You robbed me of my son and the world of a boy who would have become an amazing man,” she said in court, according to a news release. “At 15, he was already more of a man than you could ever be. You are not seen as powerful. You are seen as the coward that you are who chose to hurt children.” Wesley Welling, a 15-year-old freshman at Westlake High School, was killed on April 18, 2023, when Austin Allen Eis drove into a group of students with his car. (Ventura County district attorney’s office) Eis is considered a youthful offender and will be eligible for a parole hearing after serving 24 years, prosecutor Amber Lee previously told The Times. Lee, a senior deputy district attorney, said prosecutors decided to accept the plea to save victims and their families from the trauma of testifying about the deadly assaults over the course of a lengthy trial. “These families have endured unspeakable pain,” Lee said in a statement Tuesday. “This sentence brings finality without forcing them to relive their trauma in trial.” Thousand Oaks is mourning Wesley Welling, 15, killed in what officials have called an intentional crash by a suspect also linked to a stabbing and a domestic incident. The violent rampage spanned three locations, 30 miles and a couple of hours on the afternoon of April 18, 2023. Eis pepper-sprayed and stabbed a Walmart greeter in Simi Valley before assaulting a second employee and attempting to drag her away, prosecutors said. He forced entry into his family’s Camarillo home, where he threatened multiple people with a knife. He then drove 20 minutes to Thousand Oaks and slammed his Toyota Camry into a group of students standing outside Westlake High School around 3:40 p.m. Wesley was killed and a 15-year-old boy, a 14-year-old girl and a 16-year-old girl were severely injured, according to the Ventura County Sheriff’s Office. The teens described shattered bodies, sleepless nights and lasting trauma at Eis’ sentencing hearing, according to the Ventura County district attorney’s office. Several of Wesley’s friends attended court hearings wearing “Justice for Wesley” T-shirts. Times staff writer Richard Winton contributed to this report. Clara Harter is a breaking news reporter at the Los Angeles Times. Previously, she covered politics and education for the L.A. Daily News. While at the Daily News, she published a series on fentanyl addiction that won a first-place investigative journalism award from the L.A. Press Club. Harter majored in political science and Middle Eastern studies at Columbia University. She loves surfing and, when not reporting, can most likely be found in the ocean. Climate & Environment World & Nation Subscribe for unlimited accessSite Map Westlake Corporation (NYSE:WLK) Q1 2025 Earnings Call Transcript May 2 Westlake Corporation misses on earnings expectations Welcome to the Westlake Corporation First Quarter 2025 Earnings Conference Call During the presentation all participants will be in a listen-only mode this conference is being recorded today May 02 Westlake’s Vice President and Treasurer and to the Westlake Corporation conference call to discuss our first quarter 2025 results we will refer to our two reporting segments which we refer to as PEM or materials and housing and infrastructure products Today’s conference call will begin with Jean-Marc who will open with a few comments regarding Westlake’s performance Steve will then discuss our financial and operating results after which Jean-Marc will add a few concluding comments management is going to discuss certain topics that will contain forward-looking information that is based on management’s beliefs as well as assumptions made by and information currently available to management These risks and uncertainties are discussed in Westlake’s Form 10-K for the year ended December 31 We encourage you to learn more about these factors that could lead our actual results to differ by reviewing these SEC filings Westlake issued a press release with details of our first quarter results This document is available in the Press Release section of our website at westlake.com We have also included an earnings presentation which can be found in the Investor Relations section on our website A replay of today’s call will be available beginning today two hours following the conclusion of this call This replay may be accessed via Westlake’s website you are advised that time sensitive information may no longer be accurate as of the time of any replay I would advise you that this conference call is being broadcast live through an Internet webcast system that can be accessed on our web page at westlake.com We appreciate you joining us to discuss our first quarter 2025 results we reported EBITDA of $288 million on net sales of $2.8 billion Westlake benefited from the diversity of our businesses and our low cost highly integrated business model during the first quarter of 2025 Our HIP segment performed well despite winter storms slowing home constructions in certain parts of the U.S and an uptick in mortgage interest rates that slowed sales of completed homes by the nation’s large builders both of which weighed on our sales of our products in the quarter The broad portfolio and expensive footprint of our HIP segment with its solid 20% EBITDA margin and asset light cash generative business model partially offset the first quarter headwinds that we experienced in our PEM segment Our PEM segment results reflected a confluence of events converging to deliver results below our expectations a strong run up in feedstock and energy prices increased PEM’s cost by approximately $100 million year-over-year while at the same time we undertook 2 planned turnarounds and experienced unplanned outages that impacted our EBITDA by approximately $80 million This confluence of events resulted in extraordinary margin compressions which drove PEM’s EBITDA to be $180 million lower than the first quarter of 2024 Global demand remains well below historical levels and recent disruptions from tariffs have weighted on global growth While we navigate the uncertain macroeconomic environment we are taking immediate and targeted actions to adjust to the business conditions to improve profitability and grow the business we are focused on rightsizing our operations for the current economic realities we continued to make progress with optimizing our manufacturing footprint including taking the actions in our epoxy business that we announced last fall to drive improvements in our costs and earnings in the coming months Charges for these actions were accrued in 2024 and we are continuing to assess our asset portfolio to improve our financial performance we are raising our cost reduction target for 2025 by $25 million to a new range of $150 million to $175 million building on the $40 million of cost reductions we achieved in the first quarter we are reducing our capital spending forecast for 2025 by 10% to $900 million to support our cash generation this year We are monitoring market conditions and we will adjust this capital spending level as needed we are improving our cost structure and operational reliability we successfully completed our Petro 1 ethylene plant turnaround after running the unit for a record 8.5 years This is the second ethylene plant turnaround since 2023 and we expect both plants to deliver reliable production with an eye towards achieving yet another future record of operations between turnarounds we completed the new VCM tie-ins at Geismar plant during its turnaround which will provide enhanced reliability across our entire chlorovinyl production chain The VCM tie-in will also allow us to replace the current mercury cell capacity being rationalized this year with new more environmentally friendly membrane cell capacity with no material impact on our overall capacity These major sites completed their turnaround work in the second quarter and are now ramping up to address market demand We are pleased to have completed these significant operational milestones with the associated benefits from improved operational reliability that they will provide well into the future we believe that these actions will better position us and ensure Westlake will continue to create value for its shareholders I would now like to turn over our call to Steve to provide more detail on our financial results for the first quarter of 2025 Westlake reported a net loss of $40 million or $0.31 per share in the first quarter on sales of $2.8 billion Net income for the first quarter of 2025 decreased $214 million from the first quarter of 2024 The year-over-year decline in net income was primarily due to higher North American feedstock and energy cost of approximately $100 million Planned turnarounds and unplanned outages that impacted EBITDA by approximately $80 million as well as unfavorable changes in HIP sales mix net income decreased by $47 million in the first quarter as the seasonal increase in sales volume did not fully offset higher feedstock and energy cost turnaround and outage impacts and the sales mix changes our utilization of the FIFO method of accounting resulted in a favorable pretax impact of $66 million compared to what earnings would have been reported on the LIFO method This is only an estimate and has not been audited Before I discuss the details of our segment results I want to provide some high-level thoughts on the quarter financial results in our HIP segment during the first quarter reflected lower average sales prices which slowed new construction of homes in certain parts of the United States and higher interest rates that drove fewer housing permits impacting our volumes on our pipe and fitting and siding and trim businesses While winter storms delayed the normal start of the construction season we were pleased with HIP’s EBITDA margin of 20% in the first quarter which typically experiences lower seasonal demand Our first quarter results reflected a number of headwinds The most significant was the year-over-year increase in feedstock and energy cost of approximately $100 million As a result of protracted down cycle negatively impacting entity-wide sales volumes we were unable to realize higher average sales prices in the first quarter to offset these higher costs planned turnarounds and unplanned outages reduced our first quarter of 2025 EBITDA by approximately $80 million The turnarounds were completed in the second quarter and now ramping up to meet demand We continue to take proactive steps to right size our PEM business for the current demand environment including actions to improve profitability of our epoxy assets in the Netherlands where we took the charge to earnings in 2024 substantially all of the approximately $40 million of companywide cost savings generated in the first quarter of 2025 or in our PEM segment and we continue to drive to reduce costs beyond our company-wide raise target of $150 million to $175 million for the full year of 2025 Moving to the specifics of our segment performance Our Housing and Infrastructure Products segment produced EBITDA of $203 million on $1 billion of sales EBITDA decreased $61 million year-over-year due to a 2% decline in sales volumes and a 3% decline in average sales prices Sales volumes during the first quarter of 2025 was impacted by a significant prebuying activity late in 2024 in pipe and fittings the change in product mix and a slower start to the construction season due to the winter weather contributed to lower segment EBITDA margin when compared to the first quarter of 2024 When compared to the fourth quarter of 2024 driven by a 4% sequential increase in sales volume that more than offset a 2% decline in average sales price Housing product sales of $838 million in the quarter increased $20 million due to sales volume growth particularly for siding and trim and roofing Infrastructure product sales of $158 million in the first quarter of 2025 decreased $5 million from the fourth quarter of 2024 due to some customers prebuying in the fourth quarter of 2024 that they would normally have bought in the first quarter of 2025 First quarter EBITDA of $73 million was below first quarter of 2024 EBITDA of $253 million due primarily to significant higher North American feedstock cost and energy cost including a 59% increase in natural gas cost and a 42% increase in ethane cost Weak global industrial and manufacturing activity during the first quarter and some flattening of the global cost curve led to delays in our price initiative increases resulting in a 2% decrease in PIM’s average sales price Sales volumes also declined 2% year-over-year driven by lower global demand for PVC resin and polyethylene As a result of these factors and the impact of planned turnarounds and unplanned outages PIM’s first quarter EBITDA margin of 4% was below the first quarter of 2024 EBITDA margin of 13% PIM’s segment EBITDA of $73 million in the first quarter decreased by $147 million from the fourth quarter of 2024 as a result of the higher North American feedstock and energy cost and the impact of the planned turnarounds and unplanned outages that I previously discussed cash and investments were $2.5 billion and total debt was $4.6 billion with a staggered long term fixed rate debt maturity net cash used from operating activities of $77 million was impacted by cash outflows associated with the planned turnarounds that I previously mentioned as well as our typical seasonal increase in working capital to support seasonal changes in demand for our products we used $30 million of cash to repurchase shares of Westlake common stock while returning $68 million of cash to shareholders in the form of dividends during the quarter We continue to look for opportunities to strategically deploy our balance sheet in order to create long term value Now let me provide some guidance for your models Given the macroeconomic uncertainty and an uptick in mortgage interest rates combined with slower starts in new home construction we now expect 2025 revenue and EBITDA margin in our Housing and Infrastructure Products segment to be towards the low end of the previously communicated range of $4.4 billion to $4.6 billion of revenue Our revised outlook reflects continued mix shift impacts on revenue and EBITDA margin We continue to expect positive sales growth for HIP in 2025 Expected total cap expenditures for the company has been lowered by 10% to $900 million as we optimize our business we are now targeting $150 million to $175 million of company-wide savings in 2025 with roughly $40 million achieved in the first quarter we expect our effective tax rate to be approximately 23% and we expect cash interest expense to be approximately $160 million I’d like to turn the call back over to Jean-Marc to provide the current outlook of our business our efforts will be focused on executing several proactive and decisive actions to enhance margins optimize our footprint and improve our cost structure and operational reliability These are all actions that are within our control and that will position Westlake to create greater value as we navigate this business cycle Global trade tensions have intensified and we estimate the direct impact from recent tariff announcement on our business is largely manageable A large majority of our products [Indiscernible] are USMCA-compliant and limit our exposures at this moment While it remains unclear our trade negotiation will conclude and as we clearly assess the impact they may have on demand for our products we are taking proactive steps to reduce all direct impacts to products we import that are subject to significant duties Our HIP businesses are primarily domestic in nature and their supply chains are relatively insulated by recent tariff announcement through the USMCA while we are now expecting HIP revenue and EBITDA margin to be towards the low end of our previous guidance ranges we continue to expect positive HIP sales volume growth for 2025 we expect the direct impact from recent tariff announcements on our cost and supply chains to also be manageable we have seen increased volatility in commodity prices and currency rates which may impact our PEM segment in the second quarter and full year of 2025 Until negotiations on tariffs are finalized we expect the uncertainty to persist and we are prepared to take action to adjust to changing conditions Let me remind you of Westlake’s foundational strengths which have served us very well over many decades I want to focus on 5 in particular that I believe will differentiate us from peers during the current period of uncertainty The first of these is our integrated business model from ethylene all the way through the building products insulating us from supply chain disruptions and enabling us to capture margin along this integrated chain supported by the strength of earnings in HIP and the leverage to macroeconomic upturns in PEM which is a key source of resilience and opportunity throughout the business cycle Third is our globally advantaged feedstock and energy position in North America where 85% of our products are manufactured Fourth is our strong investment grade balance sheet with $2.5 billion of cash and securities and no near-term debt maturities which helps support our ability to reward shareholders through share repurchases and our unbroken string of quarterly dividends for over 20 years since our IPO Fifth is our low-cost manufacturing culture with an emphasis on the safety and reliability of our plants the best we can do is to prepare for many potential outcomes I believe that the key strengths that I just outlined position us to succeed across a wide range of potential outcomes in the current uncertain macroeconomic environment I will now turn the call back over to John I would like to remind listeners that our earnings presentation which provides additional clarity into our results is available on our website and a replay of this teleconference will be available two hours after the call has ended [Operator Instructions] Our first question is going to come from the line of Patrick Cunningham with Citi I guess maybe I want to just start off on the HIP It seems like more margin degradation is implied Can you first remind us the typical time line for price realization there and your level of confidence in passing through inflation this market is much more — this HIP market is much more stable in pricing dynamics which moves on a monthly and sometimes more frequent basis we see more stability in price nominations And so certainly in an environment where we see dynamic in some of the input cost we’re able to actually provide more price stability there That doesn’t mean we’re not exposed to some of the changes in the market conditions but it’s much more stable in price across the entire change And I know you’ve discussed the direct impacts of this trade uncertainty being manageable When do you anticipate retaliatory tariffs in China will do to PE operating rates and domestic prices it’s hard to project what may occur there because it’s hard to anticipate what the indirect impacts could be But simply as we think about the mix of polyethylene that we produce which is largely going into domestic packaging applications that our exposure to the Asian market for most of the low-density polyethylene that we produce and some of the specialty and differentiated forms really are not targeted for those markets And so the markets that we’re focusing our products into is really more of that specialty end of the chain and less exposed to really those kind of dynamics that you see in the Asian markets Our next question is going to come from the line of Jeffrey Zekauskas with J.P Can you let us know how the PVC industry performed in the first quarter the industry continues to in the first quarter see a bit of a build in inventory in anticipation of the construction season So I would say that operating rates for the industry were probably in the 80s in that range the construction season doesn’t really start until we get it really into the late portions of the first quarter and into the second quarter So they would typically be in the low to mid-80s you said that there were declines in chlor-alkali and PVC resin prices sequentially I thought PVC resin prices went up in the first quarter I thought there was a price increase in February and in March Did you have a different experience or maybe posted prices were different than the experience of interest when you think about the change that we saw we saw some price resets at the end of the year that carried into the first month or so of the first quarter there were price increases realized over the course of February and March And so as we think about what we experienced there have been increases over the course of the first quarter but there were some kind of market resets that occurred at the end of the year Jeffrey Zekauskas: And you talked about declines in chlor-alkali Is that both in chlorine and caustic or only in chlorine but not in caustic Steve Bender: Now we’ve continued to see some continued strength really in chlorine and as we enter the season now — excuse me as we enter this season for bleaching and for construction materials There are some of course regional pressures of course in all these product offerings both in chlorine of course and in caustic that may occur at the end of the year during a slow period of construction and demand for bleaching materials and water treatment materials in January But as you think about the onset of the construction season and the onset of the water treatment season we’ve seen some stability in fact in caustic some price increases in the first quarter Operator: One moment for our next question Our next question comes from the line of John Roberts with Mizuho Group I think a driver for HIPs was gaining share at distributors because of your ability to fill more of an order than competitors that have more narrow product lines And does this kind of environment make it harder to gain share because it’s more competitive or is it easier to gain some share here I would say that and you can see from our prepared remarks that we expect to continue the revenue growth in our business And I think that speaks directly to the question you’re asking I think the broad offering that we offer in our HIP segment has allowed us to continue to gain share in that market Our focus is really meeting the needs of the customer’s customer And in those dialogues that we have with the home builders we find that there is really good selection and of those product offerings and that allows us to have that penetration into our distributor customers And so we do see good growth in the range of product offerings with our distributors and ultimately going to our end customer And our next question is going to come from the line of Michael Leithead with Barclays can you talk more about the mix shift impact that you’re calling within HIP Just what businesses are generating above average margin that maybe you’re seeing a disproportional slowdown here we did see a pull forward of some of the pipe and fittings businesses in the fourth quarter it’s harder to put some of that material into the ground The ground is frozen in parts of the northern portions of the United States and Canada And so let’s pull on that in the early stages of the first quarter that was backfilled with some of the volumes we saw in our exterior building products business as well as in compound So it was really the pull forward of some of our pipe and fittings business in fourth quarter And do you need to take further actions to improve that business’s profitability Steve Bender: It remains a challenged business we’re taking proactive steps really to really address this You can see that we took the charge in third quarter of last year we’re moving forward to take steps to really improve the bottom-line results of that business Our next question comes from the line of Aleksey Yefremov with KeyBanc Capital Markets Could you comment on what’s happening in pricing in specific categories And is there any difference between large and small diameter products there is more value really in the larger diameter business we’re the only player with really the pipe and the fittings combination And so I would say that that’s really where we’re seeing the strength I would say that when we think about price it does vary across the country and so it’s hard to quote an overall price But I would say that with some of the push through in PVC resin there’s sometimes a bit of a lag in getting that all the way through in our pipe and fittings applications some margin compression in that pipe and fittings business That’s more of a lag than an inability to ultimately get that pricing of that resin through But the value proposition that we see in the larger pipe business is really why we continue to stay so very focused in that business There are so many players and it’s a much more fragmented market in the much smaller diameter forms of pipe That’s where we play a much smaller role because frankly it’s a smaller value-added segment of the business you just mentioned that overall after discounts it sounds like your PVC pricing was lower in Q1 Just broadly Petrochemical prices are lower Would any of that benefit HIP in the first half or this year in terms of margins I didn’t quite fully hear your question the question really is about lower PVC prices and lower petrochemical prices in general So as we think about the run up and now we’ve actually seen some normalization of some of those energy price that we experienced in the first quarter But I would say some of the price nominations we’ve seen specifically in PVC have come through in terms of recognizing higher prices but getting the early portions of the first quarter You broke up a little bit at least on my part I’m not sure if it’s an issue for the whole call But the question was really about lower raw material costs for a HIP And so we’re not really seeing a degradation in pricing in our Building Products business as a result of those lower prices in some of the inputs As I mentioned earlier to one of the questioners we see a much more stability in Building Products pricing we don’t see a transference of the high degree of volatility you typically see in the more commodity-oriented materials translated into building products Prices tend to be significantly more stable on the building product side And one moment as we move on to our next question Our next question comes from the line of Josh Spector with UBS I wanted to ask specifically on PVC exports in PEM Are you making any money on the exports of PVC at this point I’m trying to understand kind of the negative EBIT and some of the shift down And I guess depending on your answer there operations just given some of your assets are net shore ethylene and probably less advantaged Are there opportunities for you to pull levers to improve that or is my analysis wrong I would say that the export pricing that we’re seeing The domestic price we’re seeing in PVC really reflect the export prices But I agree that the export margin is very narrow Our next question comes from the line of Michael Sison with Wells Fargo and I know you don’t get any specifics why and what would need to drive that for an improvement in EBITDA for PEM in 2Q versus 1Q as we look at some of the forecasters such as NAHB for housing starts and even housing permits for the 2025 year we see those numbers forecasted to be in the $1.3 million range The second quarter and the third quarter tend to be seasonally strong from a construction perspective And You can see our commentary and guidance for HIP that we do expect revenue growth And so I do expect that as we start into the second quarter and the third quarter we’ll continue to see growth in those activities You can see the guidance we’re providing in revenue And so I do expect that we’ll be able to continue to get traction really in that business And that is really what is driving the PVC pricing We’ve seen some traction in the first quarter in PVC pricing over the course of the first quarter so far this year And so with that sequential pickup that we’re seeing in downstream demand in construction materials those prices that we talked about earlier in PVC that we’ve been able to nominate in February and March Those sequentially should be constructive because you get the compounding effect of those prices coming through that we were able to put in place in the first quarter will carry on into the second quarter And the headwind in seed stocks in PEM for Q1 Steve Bender: So as we think about gas as an example for fuel we’ve seen that gas is now in the neighborhood of about 3.5% and ethane has started to trend lower from the first quarter Ethane ran up fairly significantly in the middle portion the late portion of the first quarter and ethane has trended lower over the month of April and so far in May relative to the peaks that we saw in the first quarter So that will be a positive headwind — or positive tailwind Our next question is going to come from the line of Pete Osterland with Truist Securities how much of the $80 million of outage costs were planned versus unplanned in the first quarter And could you size the expected costs associated with these outages in the second quarter the planned outages for the turnarounds is about 2/3r of that $80 million as you heard me in my prepared remarks say that we’re ramping up now to meet demand for the turnaround that we took for both the Petro 1 unit that was in turnaround as well as our Geismar VCM tie-ins So those units are ramping up over the course of April and May I expect them to be in fuller rates by in May on your plans to reduce CapEx by 10% this year if overall market conditions meaningfully worsen how much could you or would you be willing to cut this year beyond that we actually will take a look at the market conditions as you noted we won’t pull back on spending related to safety and reliability But we will be focused in making sure that any other activities are certainly being looked at very closely maintain a safe and operable plant and reliability continues to be an important element in our business We’ll take a look and see what those market conditions dictate and if changes lower are dictated And our next question is going to be from the line of Matthew Blair with TPH market weakness shaking anything loose or is M&A just not really a consideration right now the acquisition opportunities has always been an important element in the growth of our business And I would say the dialogues that we have across both segments continue to be good And I would say we’re always thoughtful about how we deploy capital to an acquisition but I would say there are opportunities in the marketplace and we’ll assess those and the value those bring on an ongoing basis there are always good opportunities and we’ll look at those and act on those if those are good opportunities We have a strong balance sheet and an investment grade rated balance sheet So with the cash and the under-leverage position we have but could you talk about any patterns and any differences you’re seeing in residential versus commercial we don’t really address the commercial market But I will say that certainly some of the higher interest rates are causing some cautiousness by buyers But I would say that our guidance has really been consistent that we see housing starts last year at $1.3 million consistent with the guidance we see from forecasters like NAHB and others such as John Burns we’re forecasting starts to be in the $1.3 million range And that’s our view and that’s the guidance on which we built our HIP guidance around And our next question comes from the line of Kevin McCarthy with Vertical Research Partners do you see any examples of businesses where you think volumes are being negatively affected by the international trade chaos in say April or May Or is that not the case and the volume experience is on par with what you would normally expect seasonally I’d say that’s caused some just cautiousness across the spectrum in many of our products And so I would say that we’re watching and then dialogue with the customer base that we have across all of our product spectrums It’s affecting not only our chemical customer base but also our building products customer base with some of the uncertainty And so that’s why I’d say that as we look forward we’re building plans to deal with a macroeconomic situation in both sides of our business polyethylene spot export prices seem to be ebbing a little bit in recent weeks Can you update us on what your expectations are for resin selling prices — polyethylene resin that is in the next month or two here April has not yet settled even though we’re the first few days of May at this stage So it’s hard to see where that will ultimately land we’ve got a $0.05 price nomination that really has just been pushed to May if we don’t get that achieved in April So we’ll take a look and see how the markets begins to sort itself out And our next question is going to come from the line of Arun Viswanathan with RBC Capital Markets And I guess are you guys kind of operating maybe slightly below the market just given some of the maintenance or where would you kind of characterize industry in your own operating rates Steve Bender: So when you think of where we are we’ve seen price traction in the first quarter that will carry over into the second quarter from a caustic perspective we’ve had some turnaround activity with the VCM tie-ins that we had planned in the first quarter in Geismar And so our operating rates in the first quarter were unusually low because of that turnaround — that planned turnaround activity But as we expect that the construction season will begin to pick up the pull-on chlorine will go into water treatment and into the construction materials So we had I do expect some further pull-on PVC So I do expect operating rates for ourselves and for the industry to lift from where they were in the first quarter And just curious on the impact of China and Chinese production on PVC but you could still ship North American PVC over there Understanding you guys didn’t necessarily participate in a lot of that the midterm PVC outlook that it get more positive because of tariffs and maybe less imports — or less Chinese exports entering different markets and maybe that would open up some extra export opportunities for you guys I think it’s a really good question and it’s hard to know exactly where all this may get sorted given the conversations on tariffs But I would say that when we look at the opportunities being on the lower end of the cost curve positions us very well the integrated chain we have gives us an ability to run our plants at average higher operating rates the VCM that we added gives us what I would call more elbow operating room and more reliability over the cycle we’ll look for opportunities given how some of these trade negotiations may play through some of the trade patterns have changed as a result of not only those discussions with Asia players but also some of the European players have imposed higher tariffs as well So we’ve seen change in trade patterns and we’ll certainly take every opportunity we can to leverage that most of our manufacturing capacity is here We see a large amount of demand for resin domestically about a 1/3rd of our PVC resin goes into building products So our export exposure is much more limited than some of our other vinyl peers Our next question is going to be from the line of Frank Mitsch with Fermium Research LLC I want to come back to the hit margin question I’m not sure if I’m understanding this correctly some of the higher margin pipes and fittings was sold in the was pulled forward into the fourth quarter So that would lead to a negative mix effect in the first quarter And so with that negative mix effect in 1Q one would suspect that we’d probably get a lift in 2Q in terms of margins the full year guide in terms of margins was guided towards the low end of 20% to 22% So is there some sense of conservatism here Should we not expect margins in hip to be better in 2Q versus 1Q as we think about the — and you outlined the dynamics that I described in the first quarter quite well And I would say as we think forward about the guidance we providing in margin some degree of conservatism built into that forecast because I think the outlook that we see in interest rates and some of the dynamics really are unclear at this stage You see that through the growth in revenue And it’s really unclear in terms of really how that will progress through the course of the year in terms of margin We certainly will be looking to gain the share back in our higher value-added products and pipe and fittings are one of those there is some conservative view built into that margin guidance last quarter as we’ve seen some buybacks Market seems to be giving you another opportunity here How should we think about Westlake and buybacks in 2Q and beyond we have authority from the Board to act as we see opportunities to do so and we have liquidity to be able to act We’ll be looking at where we think the best deployment of that capital is we took those actions recently and we’ll assess those opportunities prospectively We obviously don’t guide quarter-by-quarter our activity in the market we’ll look at those opportunities and assess is that the best place to deploy our capital but there’s some other good growth opportunities in our business I mentioned some of the opportunities through acquisitions We’re also expanding our footprint in PVCO pipe as well in Wichita Falls So there are some good opportunities that we see but we’ll also assess are there opportunities in our own stock And our next question is going to come from the line of Vincent Andrews with Morgan Stanley It would be great to make sure that we’re level setting for the $100 million of energy and feedstock headwinds correctly Was all of this just related to energy markets tightening Or were there some onetime headwinds related to the winter storms you mentioned that we should back out ahead of accounting for energy costs quarter-over-quarter in the second quarter It was all related to just really the dynamics that you mentioned in the energy markets It’d be great to get some color on CapEx as well in light of the $100 million reduction of your full year guide Can you quantify your maintenance CapEx and what was taken out with this reduction we’re looking at our operations in the epoxy arena that we took a charge for in the third quarter of 2024 we’re looking at actions related to our ECH and AC facilities there So as we think about the charge that we’ve took in the third quarter of last year We do expect there’ll be diminished capital spending in those operations in the Netherlands but we’ll also look across the entire organization and see are there opportunities to really tighten the belt on some of our operations So ordinary maintenance in the business runs in the neighborhood of $700 million to $800 million safety and reliability would not be those areas where we would be pulling back on capital And our next question is going to come from the line of Hassan Ahmed with Alembic Global Advisors We’ve obviously over the last several quarters been hearing about a fair degree of sort of capacity rationalization happening on the ethylene polyethylene side of things Could you comment a bit on what you guys are hearing globally on the PVC side what the global cost curves are looking like within PVC it’s been a oversupplied market globally It’s been a market that has tended to rationalize in Europe now Europe used to be an exporter of PVC across the world and because of raw material cost and certainly energy cost that has stopped So the situation is not yet completely sorted out There is still some rationalization that needs to take place in Europe But you also see upstream and on the ethylene side that some of the crackers that are operating in Europe are also not really profitable and you have started seeing some major producer to rationalize some of their production there We are not really exposed in terms of ethylene in Europe So but we are actually have seen a reduction in price in ethylene and I think it’s putting pressure certainly on ethylene producer in Europe So I think there is still some ways to go in terms of restructuring around the world in some of these commodities continuing with sort of the overcapacity theme obviously we’re sort of swimming in oversupply on the epoxy side of things as well But then there are some glimmers of hope around the whole sort of anti-dumping sort of duties potentially being imposed And are you guys in the camp that as and when those anti-dumping duties do get imposed you could see at the very least a return to positive EBITDA there these anti-dumping have been somehow been put in place in the U I think there was an expectation in Europe that prices would start going up But the expectation that it’s going to dramatically improve profitability I think it’s going to be a little bit difficult to achieve some of the major producer certainly out of Korea have not been impacted by some of these anti-dumping tariffs And so that has put a little bit of a damp on our expectations of a quick return to high profitability is pretty similar and we’ve seen certainly better performance in the U.S. but not to the extent where the market has changed dramatically We hope you will join us again for our next conference call to discuss our second quarter results