AOL Money & Finance

agriculture services posts

Feed

Is now the time to buy Deere?

Posted Aug 13th 2008 5:25PM by Jonathan Berr (RSS feed)
Filed under: International markets, Earnings reports, Deere and Co (DE), Commodities

Kudos to my colleague Elizabeth Harrow for pointing out that shares of Deere & Company (NYSE: DE) may be heading for a fall. As today's earnings report shows, her post was on the money.

Net income rose to $575.2 million, or $1.32 per share. Revenue soared 17% to $7.74 billion. Analysts had expected profit of $1.36 per share on revenue of $7.23 billion. Shares of the largest farm equipment maker had their biggest drop in two decades, according to Bloomberg.

What's killing Deere is rising raw material costs. The company's overall business is doing fine. Agricultural sales rose 35% in the quarter. Not surprisingly Commercial and Consumer revenue fell 1% and Construction and Forestry declined 7%.

Continue reading Is now the time to buy Deere?

Covance (CVD) is not recession-proof, but it's close

Posted Jan 16th 2008 4:43PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Stocks to Buy

Covance logo Given the market's continued choppy/consolidated pattern (or perhaps worse), one would think that there isn't a promising business model in the states today, with a technically-strong stock chart accompanying it. Pre-clinical / clinical research company Covance dispels that thesis.

Covance (NYSE: CVD) develops and conducts pre-clinical and clinical trials of potential commercial drugs. The company also offers laboratory testing services to companies in the chemical, agri-chemical, and food sectors.

Analysts like CVD's ramping drug development services demand from both pharmaceutical and biotech companies, new orders, market-share increase prospects, and the company's sector-leading research lab. The Reuters F2007/F2008 EPS consensus estimates for CVD are $2.65/$3.12.

The risks? Project cancellations, or a reduction in research and development spending by pharmaceutical and/or biotech companies would hurt CVD's results. Analysts also have their eye on a possible slowdown in drug development outsourcing.

The First Call mean rating for CVD is: Buy. [14 firms.] Mean 2008 target: $94.00. [high: $106, low: $83.]

Stock Analysis: Covance is a moderate-risk stock not suitable for low-risk investors. Investors with an investment horizon longer than two years should be rewarded from CVD's shares. Sell / Stop Loss if you were to purchase shares in this company: $56.

DISCLOSURE: Joseph Lazzaro has no positions in stocks. In addition to private real estate holdings, he owns corporate and municipal bonds, and cash certificates of deposit.

With Mosaic (MOS), it's a quilt of customers covering the world

Posted Jan 14th 2008 4:50PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Agriculture, Stocks to Buy

Readers of this space know that numerous emerging market growth facts suggest that agriculture and agriculture services stocks are likely to remain star performers in the immediate years ahead, given the agriculture boom in emerging markets, and one preferred company worth an evaluation is The Mosaic Company.

Mosaic (NYSE: MOS) is one of the world's leading producers of crop nutrients -- nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium -- and animal feed ingredients.

Analysts really like Mosaic's revenue and earnings growth, which is being driven be increasing demand for its products from solid economic growth Latin America and Asia. Further, Mosaic's Esterhazy and Saskatchewan plant expansions in 2007 should increase potash capacity to about 11.7-12.0 million tons, and give MOS an edge versus its competitors.

Continue reading With Mosaic (MOS), it's a quilt of customers covering the world

Agrium's fertilizers promote growth...and earnings growth

Posted Jan 11th 2008 5:53PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Brazil, Mexico, Canada, Agriculture, Stocks to Buy

Given the market's continued choppy / consolidating pattern (or perhaps worse), its makes sense to add a defensive stock or two, and one worth an evaluation is Agrium Inc. (NYSE: AGU).

Agrium is the No. 1 producer and seller of fertilizers for North America, including nitrogen, as well potash and phosphate products.

The company has an 8-million-ton nutrient production capacity, but production is only half the equation: AGU also has more than 400 retail outlets in the U.S. and South America – the back-end side of the revenue equation.

Continue reading Agrium's fertilizers promote growth...and earnings growth

From Potash's (POT) standpoint, it's a growing world

Posted Dec 28th 2007 5:12PM by Joseph Lazzaro (RSS feed)
Filed under: Agriculture, Stocks to Buy, Best Stocks for 2008, Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT)

Agriculture and agriculture services stocks are likely to remain star performers in the immediate years ahead, given the agriculture boom in emerging markets, and one preferred company worth an evaluation is Canada-based Potash Corp. (NYSE: POT).

Potash is an integrated producer of fertilizer, phosphate, and nitrogen, which is used in fertilizer and in industrial/consumer products.

Analysts really like POT's 12.9-million-ton potash production capacity, which represents an impressive 20% of the world's potash capacity.

Further, as one might sense with an emerging-market agriculture boom, sales have been robust, margins are solid, and the company has some price power: it's likely that price hikes will follow again in 2008, on top of price increases in 2007. The Reuters F2007/F2008 EPS consensus estimates for POT are $3.23/$5.50.

The risks? Analysts are keeping an eye on raw material and labor costs. A global economic slowdown would also obviously hurt POT's results. POT shares have also had a remarkable run in 2007, rising more than 200%: shares are vulnerable to large-dollar pull-backs, but those will be mild if POT continues to exceed EPS expectations.

Stock Analysis: Potash Corp. is a moderate-risk stock not suitable for low-risk investors. Investors with an investment horizon longer than two years should be rewarded from POT shares. Sell / Stop Loss if you were to purchase shares in this company: $85.

DISCLOSURE: Joseph Lazzaro has no positions in stocks. In addition to private real estate holdings, he owns corporate and municipal bonds, and cash certificates of deposit.

Symbol Lookup
IndexesChangePrice
DJIA+32.4210,259.36
NASDAQ+5.852,159.91
S&P 500+3.231,096.31

Last updated: November 10, 2009: 10:40 AM

BloggingStocks Exclusives

Hot Stocks

DailyFinance Headlines

Latest from BloggingBuyouts

WalletPop Headlines

AOL Business News

BioHealth Investor Headlines

Sponsored Links

Most Commented On (14 days)

My Portfolios

Track your stocks here!

Find out why more people track their portfolios on AOL Money & Finance then anywhere else.

  • My Portfolio
  • Create a New Portfolio

BloggingStocks Partners

More from AOL Money & Finance