Hamermesh remained skeptical that better margins are enough to ward off another proxy fight.
"If your margins improve, but your overall revenue declines, you still lose money," he said.
WIL DuPont move
DuPont’s sales dropped 11 percent in the second quarter of 2015. (Photo: JENNIFER CORBETT/THE NEWS JOURNAL)
He could use the current weakness to make some noise," said Matt Arnold, an analyst with Edward Jones investments in St. Louis.
Lawrence Hamermesh, a professor of corporate law at Delaware Law School, said it's hard to know if a poor quarter is enough to inspire Peltz to take another crack at DuPont's board. Peltz fell 58 million votes shy of winning a seat. At that margin, the support of one or two institutional investors could have put him over the top.
"The real question is how bad do things have to get before he is persuaded to take another run?" he asked.
With DuPont posting earnings for only half the year, it's still possible that improved earnings in the second and third quarters could dissuade Peltz from another proxy war. DuPont did report operating margin improvements in five of its six business units. An operating margin measures a company's revenue after paying variable costs such as wages and raw materials.
Shareholders have yet to see the results of DuPont's restructuring plan. The company spun off its performance chemicals unit as an independent company, dubbed Chemours, earlier this month. As a unit of DuPont, Chemours had the worst second quarter among the six business sectors. The unit posted $113 million in sales during the quarter, a 55% drop from $251 million during the second quarter of 2014.
DuPont blamed the decrease on negative currency impact, noting had the U.S. dollar remained strong in overseas' markets, the unit's sales would be down by 38%.