Market Vectors® Agribusiness ETF

It’s fascinating to see how the marijuana landscape around the world has evolved in the last three years. According to Canopy Growth (WEED.TO), Canada, Israel, the Czech Republic, Uruguay, and the Netherlands “established federally legal cannabis access regimes” in 2014.

Nine Wall Street analysts are covering Scotts Miracle-Gro, They have a consensus mean rating of 2.3 on the stock with an overall “buy” recommendation as of January 10, 2018.

Nineteen Wall Street analysts are covering CF Industries. They have a consensus mean rating of 2.7 on the stock with an overall “hold” recommendation as of January 10, 2018.

The potash fertilizer prices for both granular and standard grade were comfortably higher compared to the levels observed last year around the same week.

Natural gas is one of the key input components for gas-based nitrogen fertilizer producers (MOO)(MXI) such as CF Industries (CF), Terra Nitrogen (TNH), CVR Partners (UAN), and Nutrien (NTR).

In the week ending January 5, the prices for granular as well as prilled urea were broadly higher week-over-week.

Earnings per share Earlier, we discussed major agribusiness companies’ earnings, which have mostly fallen over the years. In 2018, their earnings are expected to rise. Next-12-month earnings As shown in the above chart, agribusiness companies’ NTM (next-12-month) EPS (earnings per share) are expected to improve year-over-year. FMC’s (FMC) EPS are expected rise 90% to $4.70, Agrium’s […]

Performance comparison In our series Comparative Analysis of Fertilizer Companies’ 3Q17 Earnings, we compared fertilizer companies’ 3Q17 performance. However, as the agriculture business is seasonal, we should also look at annual trends for a complete picture.   Year-over-year sales In the above chart, we compare agribusiness companies’ sales over the last 12 months and the year prior. All […]

For the week of December 6–13, 2017, natural gas spot prices at Henry Hub were broadly lower, according to the EIA.

Mosaic (MOS) has had a disappointing year so far compared to PotashCorp (POT) and Agrium (AGU). MOS stock significantly underperformed the S&P 500.

Perhaps dividend yield is one of the most common starting points when screening for dividend stocks.

Last week, which ended December 8, 2017, saw a slight rise in the Fertilizer Affordability Index issued by Mosaic (MOS).

Last week, which ended December 8, 2017, overall potash prices were broadly flat to positive at the four locations we’re covering in this series.

Some anti-trust agencies have pushed back their merger approval deadlines over anti-competitive concerns the deal will likely create.

Potash prices Potash prices remained firm for the week ending December 1. In most of the regions discussed below, the weekly prices of potash fertilizers were flat to positive. Weekly movements Last week, the granular potash prices in the Cornbelt region of the US (MOO) rose ~1.2% week-over-week to $234 per metric ton from $231 […]

Henry Hub (MOO) natural gas prices saw a negative week-over-week trend, a continuation of the trend from the previous week.

The prices for DAP (diammonium phosphate) in most of the regions of the world saw positive momentum last week.

Last week, the average weekly natural gas prices were broadly lower week-over-week at the Henry Hub in the US (MOO).

PotashCorp owns 28% of Arab Potash and can appoint three of the latter’s 12 board members. It can also reportedly appoint senior management positions.

The potash prices in the Cornbelt region were flat at $231 per metric ton. It was the sixth consecutive week that potash prices were mostly unchanged.

Last week, urea prices at the Yuzhny location fell as much as 4.1% week-over-week to $256 per metric ton from $267 per metric ton a week ago.

Last week was broadly flat for potash prices in the three locations discussed below.

Last week, surprisingly, the prices for DAP (diammonium phosphate) saw positive momentum week-over-week.

In 3Q17, Mosaic (MOS) reported sales growth of ~2% YoY (year-over-year) to $2 billion, which grew from $1.95 billion in 3Q16.

Last week, the Fertilizer Affordability Index rose again week-over-week from 0.69x to 0.70x.

Last week continued to be a positive week for urea prices. Prices have risen lately as a result of excess capacities cooling off.

As on October 25, the consensus analyst rating for Mosaic stood at 3.0, which suggests an overall “hold” recommendation for the stock.

FMC (FMC) stock has risen 6.0% over the past month. The stock has significantly outperformed the benchmarks (SPY) (MOO) YTD with a 68.0% rise.

The natural gas prices at Henry Hub in the US fell 4.1% week-over-week from a weekly average of $2.96 per MMBtu to a weekly average of $2.84 per MMBtu.

We’re nearing the end of the year, and most agribusiness stocks have underperformed the benchmark indexes.

India is another major market for NPK (nitrogen, phosphate, and potash) fertilizers. The country is partly self-sufficient in nitrogen fertilizers.

Among the three NPK (nitrogen, phosphate, and potash) fertilizers, phosphate fertilizers have had the worst recovery.

So far this year, Henry Hub natural gas prices have hovered around $3 per MMBtu (million British thermal units).

For 2016, India’s imports of nitrogen fertilizers, which only included numbers for urea, fell 27.0% to 4.9 million metric tons.

Not only did CF Industries’ earnings fall year-over-year (or YoY) in 1Q17, its margins were also significantly lower YoY. To understand why, let’s dig deeper into the cost curve.

Monsanto’s (MON) proposed merger with Bayer is expected to be completed by the 2Q18—but only if it gets the green light from antitrust authorities.

In 4Q16, the average price of ammonia for the five producers in our chart fell by an average of 38%.

Fertilizers are commonly labeled using a convention that includes the amount of NPK available in the mix.

The price-to-earnings ratio is a popular multiple investors use to determine the value of their investments in companies such as Monsanto (MON).

In 2016, Monsanto (MOO) had 21,000 employees. Let’s take a look at some of the company’s key executives.

Back in 1901, Monsanto’s (MON) first product was saccharin. However, the company’s Agricultural Chemicals business only arrived in 1945.

In 1964, Monsanto introduced its first herbicide by the name of Ramrod. Four years later, in 1968, the company commercialized an herbicide called Lasso.

Anthracite coal is used to produce nitrogen fertilizers. For the week ending November 18, average weekly anthracite coal prices in China rose 3.8%.

Producers in China mainly use coal as an input material to produce nitrogen fertilizers, especially urea. China is impacted by price movements in coal.

Monsanto’s business is the best fit for Bayer’s Crop Science segment—it contributes ~22% of Bayer’s revenue. The segment is similar to Monsanto’s business.

For the week ending September 9, average weekly anthracite coal prices in China fell 4.2% to $81.1 per metric ton—compared to the previous week.

The global nitrogen fertilizer capacity is abundant, allowing it to fulfill the current market requirements. This has put pressure on nitrogen prices, which fell significantly over the past year.

Fertilizer prices are one of the key drivers for fertilizer stocks. So investors and analysts watch fertilizer prices closely.

In 2014, the cost of production for DAP per ton ranged from $190 to $450 per metric ton, as we can see in the chart.

The Mosaic Company (MOS), which acquired CF Industries’s (CF) phosphate business in 2014, is the largest producer of phosphate globally.