FMC Corp (FMC) Scales New 52-Week High On Bright Prospects

Shares of chemical maker FMC Corporation (NYSE:FMC) scaled a fresh 52-week high of $94.42 on Oct 13, before eventually closing the day at $93.72.

FMC Corp. has a market cap of roughly $12.6 billion and average volume of shares traded in the last three months is around 1,089.5K. The company has an expected long-term EPS growth of around 11.3%.

Shares of FMC Corp. have moved up 22.1% in the last three months, significantly outperforming the industry’s 8.5% growth.

Driving Factors

In August, FMC Corp. posted a solid second-quarter 2017 performance, logging a profit of $75 million or 56 cents per share, up from $65 million or 49 cents recorded a year ago. Adjusted earnings of 48 cents per share beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 47 cents.

Revenues rose roughly 7% year over year to $657 million, also topping the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $612 million.

FMC Corp., during second-quarter earnings call, announced that it expects earnings for its Agricultural Solutions unit to be in the range of $100-$120 million for the third quarter, reflecting an increase of around 22% at the mid-point compared with the prior-year quarter. For the Lithium unit, FMC Corp. expects earnings in the third quarter to be in the range of $30-$35 million, reflecting an increase of around 85% at the mid-point compared with the prior-year quarter.

FMC Corp. is benefiting from its strategic investments, acquisitions and efforts to expand market position and strengthen its portfolio. The company is investing in technologies in its agriculture business and launching new products to enhance value to farmers.

FMC Corp. is seeing strong demand in its Lithium unit. The company is expanding its lithium hydroxide production capacity. It is executing this expansion in three phases. The move is aimed at addressing the growing demand for electric vehicles. The company expects its lithium business to deliver robust earnings growth in 2017.

Moreover, FMC Corp. agreed to buy a major portion of DuPont (NYSE:DWDP)'s Crop Protection business in March. The planned acquisition provided significant growth opportunity for the company’s Agricultural Solutions unit. After deal closure, FMC Corp.’s Agricultural Solutions unit will become the fifth biggest crop protection chemical company in the world in terms of sales with estimated annual revenues of around $3.8 billion. The acquisition will significantly increase the company’s presence in Asia and Europe and will be immediately accretive to its adjusted earnings per share.

The company, in September, announced that it has secured approval from the Competition Commission of India for its proposed purchase of DuPont's assets and it expects to complete the transaction on Nov 1.

Zacks Rank & Other Stocks to Consider

FMC Corp. currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

Some other top-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM) , The Chemours Company (NYSE:CC) and Westlake Chemical Corporation (NYSE:WLK) . All three stocks flaunt a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks Rank #1 stocks here.

Sociedad Quimica has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 32.5%.

Chemours has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 15.5%.

Westlake Chemical has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 8.3%.

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