The company, which also is run out of The Woodlands, Texas, said its sales for the quarter rose 17 percent to $2.9 billion.

Huntsman Chief Executive Peter Huntsman said he was pleased with the performance. He noted rising raw materials expenses, higher energy prices and the further weakening of the U.S. dollar during the quarter added $100 million to the company's operating costs during the quarter. "And we still were able to report improvement in our earnings," Huntsman said.

During the second quarter of last year, the chemicals maker recorded a loss or $70.9 million, or 30 cents per share.

The Utah company's results, though, were below some analyst estimates. Hassan Ahmed, a New York-based analyst at HSBC Securities, described Huntsman's results as "weak across the board" in a report Wednesday.

Bloomberg News said Huntsman's second quarter was the fourth straight quarter that the company's profit trailed analyst estimates.

Yet Huntsman's chief executive said he was in no way disappointed with the quarter and is expecting the company to report improved results for the two remaining quarters of its 2008 fiscal year.

"There were some very positive trends in our businesses," he said. "Volumes were very strong, up between 7 percent to 14 percent, depending upon the division. We also announced aggressive action to take our selling prices up across the board in every division. This obviously differs in amount from product to product, from region to region, but prices are moving up."

Huntsman said he also is encouraged by recent declines in the prices of crude oil and natural gas, both of which play an important role in the manufacturing of many of the company's products.

He added the company's second quarter results provided additional confirmation that the company hasn't suffered any "material adverse effects" since it signed a merger agreement with Apollo Management's Hexion Specialty Chemicals a year ago.

In mid-June, Hexion sued Huntsman Corp. in Delaware seeking to back away from its $10.6 billion, or $28 per share, merger agreement. It contended that since the merger agreement was inked the Utah company's financial prospects had deteriorated to the point that the combined company would be insolvent.

The Utah company disputes Hexion's analysis of its future financial prospects.

"The second quarter [results] announced today are confirmation of our view," Huntsman said. "In fact, we've been doing better than most peers, including Hexion."

Huntsman's shares closed Wednesday at $13.64, down 16 cents for the day.

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* BLOOMBERG NEWS contributed to this story.