Fertilizer maker Mosaic (MOS) is down 96 cents, or 1.5%, at $62.19 in after-hours trading after the company missed profit estimates for its fiscal Q2 ended November 30 despite meeting revenue estimates.
Q2 sales fell 43%, year over year, to $1.71 billion, the company said, beating the average $1.68 billion estimate. Profit per share came in at 24 cents, a big plunge from $2.15 a year earlier.
The company took an 8-cent charge to restructure its phosphate-based fertilizer business. Excluding that charge, profit would have been 32 cents, which is below the 35 cents analysts were modeling. A foreign currency-related loss of 4 cents per share also complicates matters; some analysts may see tonight’s number as meeting or exceeding their estimates.
The phosphate business, which is Mosaic’s biggest product, was “strong” the company said, and although trends in potash-based fertilizer were “soft” in the quarter, demand was picking up toward the end of the period, CEO Jim Prokopanko said.
Sales of phosphate fell by about a third while potash sales were down by more than 50%.
For the current quarter, Mosaic expects to ship 2.2 million to 2.6 million tonnes of phosphates, a seasonal decline from the roughly 3.4 million tons sold last quarter, and is looking for a price of $310 to $350 per ton, the company said, which is an improvement from the $287 per ton it got last quarter.
Management declined to forecast anything for the Potash business, but said trends are improving.
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