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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The potash market is looking strong today thanks to news of increasingly positive supply and demand fundamentals. Potash Corp. (NYSE:POT) is leading the charge.

Even in day filled with less-than-stellar economic data and enough stocks trading in the red to pull the perma-bears out of hibernation, there is cause for optimism.

Today it comes from the companies that have anything to do with the world’s potash market.

Thanks to news that a key Russian producer is raising its prices due to increased potash demand, American firms like Intrepid Potash (NYSE:IPI), Potash Corp (NYSE:POT) and Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) are making strong gains.

The news is yet another strong indication of the profit potential currently held by the world’s commodities market. First we saw gold prices soar. Then oil. Then silver. And now potash prices.

Next up is your portfolio balance

As the world bounces out of this recession, demand

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Keep an eye on volume, it can lead to big-time profit opportunity. Or it can save you from getting in at the top. A look at Intrepid Potash (NYSE:IPI) proves its worth.

On a day when the market is having a tough time finding the guts to make a significant move in either direction, there is a surprising amount of stocks deviating from their normal volume patterns.

Continuing with my thoughts on volume from yesterday and the indicator’s strong ability to predict future action, I thought I would take a look at Intrepid Potash (NYSE:IPI).

The stock’s trading volume is roughly about 30% higher than average today.

What does it mean?

At first glance, the activity appears bullish. Shares are in positive territory; meaning buyers must outnumber sellers.

But digging a bit further, it appears the majority of the strong buying activity came early this morning, a continuation of yesterday’s rally. Once

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On Friday, Cramer warned that “safety stocks aren’t safe” now. But he did say one stock was “about to rip.” Which?

Recently IPO’d Intrepid Potash (IPI) hit a 52-week high today, and “I want to buy it still,” Cramer said. “I think IPI’s about to rip.”

IPI doesn’t make the cut for the models I use, so I have little to add other than “recently IPO’d” stocks should have a fairly easy time setting 52-week highs.

MondayEconomic: Construction (-0.6%), ISM (48.0)Earnings: Intrepid Potash (IPI), ABM (ABM), Luluemon (LULU), NCI Bldg (NCS)TuesdayEconomic: Auto/Truck, Factory Orders (0.1%)Earnings: Layne Christensen (LAYN), Toll Bros (TOL), Bob Evans (BOBE), Guess (GES), Hovnanian (HOV), SAIC (SAI)WednesdayEconomic: Weekly Crude, ADP (-30K), Productivity (2.5%), ISM Services (51.0)Earnings: Conns (CONN), Vimpel (VIP), Volt Sciences (VOL), Williams Sonoma (WSM), ADC Telecom (ADCT), Comtech (CMTL), FuelCell (FCEL), Martek (MATK)ThursdayEconomic: Weekly Claims (370K)Earnings: Ciena (CIEN), Del Monte (DLM), UTI Worldwide (UTIW), Cooper (COO), Focus Media (FMCN), Nat Semi (NSM), Quiksilver (ZQK), Take-Two (TTWO)FridayEconomic: Jobs Report (-52K, 5.1%, .2%), Wholesale Inv’s (0.5%)Earnings: N/Ahttp://stockweb.blogspot.com/atom.xml

Tuesday April 22, Hot Fertilizer, mentions both CF Industries (CF) and Intrepid Potash (IPI).