Mosaic (MOS) Hits New 52-Week High: What's Driving the Stock?

STLD MOS HUN NGVT

Shares of The Mosaic Company (MOS - Free Report) scaled a fresh 52-week high of $32.77 on Sep 21, before closing the session at $32.33.

The company has a market cap of roughly $12.5 billion and average volume of shares traded in the past three months was around 3,826.1K. The company has expected long-term earnings per share (EPS) growth rate of 7%.

Mosaic’s shares have gained 15% in the past three months, outperforming the industry’s rise of 7.5%.

What’s Driving the Stock?

Strong earnings outlook, upbeat prospects from the Vale Fertilizantes buyout as well as strong demand and pricing trends for crop nutrients are contributing to the rally in Mosaic’s shares.

In August, the company raised its adjusted EPS guidance for 2018, considering strong business performance and lower expected effective tax rate for the year. For 2018, the company expects adjusted earnings in the range of $1.45-$1.80 per share, up from the previous view of $1.20-$1.60. It also expects adjusted EBITDA for 2018 in the range of $1.80-$1.95 billion, up from the prior view of $1.70-$1.90 billion.

Mosaic is gaining from higher fertilizer prices, which boosted top-line growth in the second quarter of 2018. The company’s revenues rose roughly 26% year over year to $2,205 million in the quarter. Higher average realized sales prices helped the company achieve double-digit sales growth in the Phosphates and Potash segments. The company expects to continue benefitting from higher prices in the third quarter.

Moreover, the company is strongly positioned to leverage the rising global demand for fertilizers. In particular, it is seeing strong demand for nutrients in India, a major import market. Mosaic expects market conditions to improve as well as anticipates demand for phosphate and potash to continue rising in 2018. It envisions 2018 to be another record year for global shipments of the nutrients.

Moreover, the acquisition of Vale Fertilizantes business makes Mosaic one of the leading fertilizer manufacturing and distribution companies in Brazil. The buyout has enabled the company capitalize on the rapidly growing Brazilian agricultural market. The acquisition is expected to be accretive to the company's EPS in 2018. Mosaic expects to realize around $100 million in synergies from the buyout this year.

 

Zacks Rank & Stocks to Consider

Mosaic currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

A few better-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Ingevity Corporation (NGVT - Free Report) , Steel Dynamics, Inc. (STLD - Free Report) and Huntsman Corporation (HUN - Free Report) , each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Ingevity has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 12%. Its shares have rallied 74.6% in the past year.

Steel Dynamics has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 12%. Its shares have gained 37.6% in the past year.

Huntsman has an expected long-term earnings growth rate of 8.5%. Its shares have moved up 7% in a year.

The Hottest Tech Mega-Trend of All

Last year, it generated $8 billion in global revenues. By 2020, it's predicted to blast through the roof to $47 billion. Famed investor Mark Cuban says it will produce "the world's first trillionaires," but that should still leave plenty of money for regular investors who make the right trades early.

See Zacks' 3 Best Stocks to Play This Trend >>

Zacks Names "Single Best Pick to Double"

From thousands of stocks, 5 Zacks experts each have chosen their favorite to skyrocket +100% or more in months to come. From those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian hand-picks one to have the most explosive upside of all.

It’s a little-known chemical company that’s up 65% over last year, yet still dirt cheap. With unrelenting demand, soaring 2022 earnings estimates, and $1.5 billion for repurchasing shares, retail investors could jump in at any time.

This company could rival or surpass other recent Zacks’ Stocks Set to Double like Boston Beer Company which shot up +143.0% in little more than 9 months and NVIDIA which boomed +175.9% in one year.

Free: See Our Top Stock and 4 Runners Up >>