Agribusiness Stocks: Analyst Ratings, Price Targets in October

We’re nearing the end of the year, and most agribusiness stocks have underperformed the benchmark indexes, including the S&P 500 (SPY) and the VanEck Vectors Agribusiness ETF (MOO). Only a handful of stocks have outperformed these benchmark indexes so far this year. Let’s take a look at which ones.

Among the companies in the above chart, Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile (SQM) is the top gainer so far with a 113.0% rise YTD (year-to-date) as of October 16, 2017. Next is Intrepid Potash (IPI) with a YTD rise of 86.0%, followed by FMC (FMC) with a 67.0% rise over the same period. The VanEck Vectors Agribusiness ETF (MOO) has risen 16.9% YTD.

Monsanto (MON) and CF Industries (CF) have both risen 16.0% so far this year. Compare these performances with the S&P 500 Index (SPY), which has risen 14.2%.

Mosaic (MOS) has fallen 26.0% YTD as of October 16, 2017. It has underperformed the above companies and the benchmark indexes.

PotashCorp (POT), Agrium (AGU), and Scotts Miracle-Gro (SMG) have had positive returns but have underperformed the benchmark indexes.

We’re heading into the earnings season with most of the above companies set to report their quarterly earnings later this month. With that in mind, we’ll look at analysts’ ratings and price target recommendations for these companies. Their ratings and recommendations may change after the quarterly earnings releases, so be sure to keep checking Market Realist’s updates.

Let’s look first at PotashCorp.