For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – September 30, 2009 – Zacks.com releases the latest Zacks Industry Rank. Stocks featured in this week’s analysis include Agrium (AGU), CF Industries (CF), Intrepid Potash (IPI), Mosaic (MOS), Potash of Saskatchewan (POT) and Market Vectors Agribusiness (MOO).

Zacks Industry Rank Analysis is written by Charles Rotblut, CFA, Senior Market Analyst for Zacks.com.

This week: Fertilizer's Farming Problem

Hostile takeover attempts have kept fertilizer companies in the news. The acquisition talk has helped to overshadow a negative trend that should have investors concerned - ongoing cuts to full-year profit forecasts.

During the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimates have been revised downwards on several fertilizer companies, including Agrium (AGU), Intrepid Potash (IPI), Mosaic (MOS) and Potash of Saskatchewan (POT).

The most recent cuts were related to a warning from POT. The company predicted

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Hostile takeover attempts have kept fertilizer companies in the news. The acquisition talk has helped to overshadow a negative trend that should have investors concerned - ongoing cuts to full-year profit forecasts.

During the past 90 days, the Zacks Consensus Estimates have been revised downwards on several fertilizer companies, including Agrium (AGU), Intrepid Potash (IPI), Mosaic (MOS) and Potash of Saskatchewan (POT).

The most recent cuts were related to a warning from POT. The company predicted that its full-year profits would be in the range of $3.25 to $3.75 per share, instead of the prior guidance of $4 to $5 per share. The company blamed "continued slow demand and limited restocking by fertilizer distributors" as the reasons for the revised forecast.

All Is Not Well on the Farm

The big reason why profit projections for fertilizer companies have been falling is not weaker demand for fertilizer,

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Monsanto Corp. (NYSE: MON), the world’s largest seed maker, says it’s on track to more than double its 2007 profit by the year 2012 and is expecting a “technology explosion” to provide even stronger products going forward. But while Monsanto continues to build on its reputation as a cutting edge agricultural business, it is also under siege by competitors and advocacy groups who claim the company is a monopoly.

The St. Louis-based Monsanto said in June that its fiscal third-quarter earnings fell to $694 million, or $1.25 a share, from $811 million, or $1.45 a share, in the same period a year ago. Sales slipped to $3.16 billion from $3.54 billion last year. The company also said its annual earnings would likely be at the low end of its $4.40 to $4.50 a share forecast range.

That’s not very impressive for a company that last year posted record net sales

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Rice rationing redux?  Chris Mayer on the return of rising food prices… Dan Amoss on what the Fed says versus what the Fed does… Russia sings dollar’s praises, dollar bulls stampede… Chuck Butler looks past the rhetoric… China’s latest resource grab… Iraqi oil… America’s best-selling car… with an MSRP of $60…

We begin a new week pondering the question that bedevils the conscientious market observer every day.Inflation? Deflation? Or as Agora founder Bill Bonner is wont to suggest, both?

“Inflation – rising prices, or a drop in the purchasing power of the dollar – will soon rise to the very top of economic concerns,” writes Chris Mayer. “I can’t understand why there are pundits who insist we can’t have inflation while the economy is weak. There are plenty of examples of weak economies with high inflation. After all, I don’t think they are hitting on

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February 18, 2009

Not very impressed? That seems to be the way investors felt today. An early rally fizzled while volume was on the light side while breadth was negative.

There may be a sense and fear developing from rumors and chatter of bank nationalizations that would wipe-out shareholder equity and hurt bondholders. That seemed the message from financials today.

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MARKET COMMENT

I’m back in the turret today. Actually I’ve only been away physically since making a presentation to an audience of RIAs doesn’t get your mind off the markets now does it?

This is still a pretty lethal market for position traders versus day-traders whether doing business in their pajamas or from what’s left of WS trading desks and hedge funds. Take a little TARP money and route it to the trading desks for fun and profit.

And another oddity is how some normal relationships are out of kilter like the dollar and gold for example.

Volume on the NYSE was about average while the NASDAQ was a little higher. For the most part, breadth was unremarkable except on the NASDAQ. There, the advance/decline was ordinary but up volume dwarfed down volume by a good amount. That shows …

Food prices to post biggest rise since 1990: USDA WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. consumers should brace for the biggest increase in food prices in nearly 20 years in 2008 and even more pain next year due to surging meat and produce prices, the Agriculture Department said on Wednesday. Food prices are forecast to rise by 5 percent to 6 percent this year, making it the largest annual increase since 1990. Just last month, USDA forecast food prices would climb between 4.5 and 5.5 percent in 2008. "It's a little bit of a surprise how strong some of the numbers were in July," USDA economist Ephraim Leibtag, who prepared the forecast, said in an interview. "We've been waiting for some moderation, but especially with some of the meat prices and how much has come through relatively recently (at the retail level) leads me

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Chart of the freakin' day ...You can see the original HERE.Gazprom expects oil to hit $250 a Barrel "in the foreseeable future". And at the same time, Citigroup boosted its 2008 Brent outlook 22 percent to $116.60 a barrel, while Merrill Lynch raised its forecast by 14 percent to $114. The International Energy Agency lowered its estimate for non-OPEC output this year by 300,000 barrels a day to 50.04 million, in its monthly report today. Saudi Arabia Calls for Summit on Energy Costs After a cabinet meeting led by King Abdullah, the Saudi government said, “the increase in prices isn’t justified in terms of market fundamentals,” according to a statement from the official Saudi Press Agency. No date was given for the energy summit. XX Sean's note -- talk is cheap.Bernanke Tries to Talk Up the Dollar, Vows Pigs Will Fly XX ...