This was was a good year for the per-share stock prices of most of the materials firms tracked by Plastics News.
Per-share stock prices at nine of those 13 firms were up between Jan. 1 and early trading on Dec. 21. Most of those increases were within a few percentage points of the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which grew almost 14 percent in that time period.
Nylon resin maker AdvanSix Inc. led the way in 2021, with its per-share price up almost 99 percent, essentially doubled from the start of the year. Per-share prices at Chemours Co., Celanese Corp., Cabot Corp., Avient Corp. and Huntsman Corp. each were up 10-18 percent.
At Eastman Chemical Co., per-share prices were up almost 10 percent in the same comparison. Smaller increases of 2-3 percent were seen at Hexcel Corp. and Westlake Chemical Corp.
Some materials firms, however, won't be sad to put 2021 in the rear-view mirror. Per-share prices at Dow Inc., DuPont Co., Trinseo and LyondellBasell Industries each were down 6-8 percent through Dec. 21.
The Motley Fool stock research site recently included Dow, Trinseo and LyondellBasell on its list of top plastics stocks for 2022.
"Plastics aren't likely to match other stock sectors such as tech in terms of massive growth potential," the site wrote. "But these companies should be reliable performers selling into stable and growing markets that can provide ballast in a tech-heavy portfolio."