Nutrien Ltd. NTR is gaining from healthy demand for crop nutrients, its actions to reduce costs and strategic acquisitions amid pricing pressures. 

The NTR stock has lost 11.8% over the past year, compared with the Zacks Fertilizers industry’s 9.8% decline. 

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Let’s find out why NTR stock is worth retaining at the moment.

Healthy Demand, Acquisitions & Cost Cuts Aid NTR Stock

Nutrien is well-placed to benefit from higher demand for fertilizers, backed by the strength in global agriculture markets. It is seeing healthy fertilizer demand in its major markets. Tight inventories are expected to support crop commodity prices in 2025. 

Strong grower economics, improved affordability and low inventory levels are expected to drive potash demand globally. The phosphate market also benefits from higher global demand and low producer and channel inventories. Demand for nitrogen fertilizer also remains healthy in major markets. Global nitrogen requirement is driven by demand in North America, India and Brazil. A resurgence in industrial nitrogen demand also bodes well. The company expects an increase in U.S. corn acreage in 2025 and sees strong demand for crop inputs in the first half.

NTR should also gain from acquisitions and increased adoption of its digital platform. It continues to expand its footprint in Brazil through acquisitions. It is expected to continue pursuing targeted opportunities in its core markets. The company expects to use a part of its free cash flow in incremental growth investments including tuck-in acquisitions in retail in 2025.

Cost and operational efficiency initiatives are also expected to aid the company’s performance. NTR remains focused on lowering the cost of production in the potash business. The company has announced several strategic actions to reduce its controllable costs and boost free cash flow. NTR has accelerated operational efficiency and cost savings initiatives and anticipates achieving around $200 million of total savings in 2025. 

Weak Prices Weigh on Nutrien’s Margins

Soft prices are expected to hurt the company’s performance. The Potash segment of NTR is expected to encounter pricing challenges in the near term. Prices of potash have retreated since the back half of 2022 from their peak levels attained in the first half, riding on the impacts of the Russia-Ukraine war and disruptions due to the sanctions in Belarus. Lower average selling prices for potash due to a decline in benchmark prices weighed on margins in the Potash unit in the fourth quarter and full-year 2024. Weaker prices are likely to continue to impact margins in this segment in the first quarter of 2025. NTR’s Retail segment also faces headwinds from lower selling prices. Weaker prices hurt sales of crop nutrients and crop protection products in the fourth quarter. The pricing pressure may continue in the first quarter.

Nutrien Ltd. Price and Consensus

Nutrien Ltd. price-consensus-chart | Nutrien Ltd. Quote

NTR’s Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks

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

Better-ranked stocks in the Basic Materials space are Axalta Coating Systems Ltd. AXTA, Ingevity Corporation NGVT and Carpenter Technology Corporation CRS. While AXTA and NGVT sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), CRS carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Axalta Coating’s 2025 earnings is pegged at $2.54, indicating a rise of 12.5% from year-ago levels. AXTA beat the consensus estimate in each of the trailing four quarters. In this time frame, it has delivered an earnings surprise of roughly 16.3%, on average. 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Ingevity’s 2025 earnings is pegged at $4.45, indicating a rise of 26.8% from year-ago levels. The consensus estimate for NGVT’s 2025 earnings has increased by 29% in the past 60 days. 

The consensus estimate for Carpenter Technology for the current fiscal year stands at $6.95, reflecting a 46.6% year-over-year increase. CRS beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters, with the average earnings surprise being 15.7%. 

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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