The Andersons, Inc. (ANDE) reported third-quarter earnings of 7 cents per share, well below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 39 cents and prior-year earnings of 70 cents per share. Apart from the Grain & Ethanol Group, all other segments posted an operating loss for the quarter. Revenues declined 33.6% to $601 million from $905.7 million in the year-ago period, primarily due to lower grain and plant nutrient prices.

The Grain & Ethanol Group's revenues fell 30.8% during the quarter due to continued weakness in commodity prices. The segment’s operating income was down 6.0% at $8.9 million compared to $9.4 million last year. While the income from grain business was down significantly during the quarter, the ethanol business benefited from improved margins and from the finalization of The Andersons Albion Ethanol LLC business interruption claim.

The Rail Group's revenues of $21.2 million were down 25.5% from $28.4 million last year. The segment

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The Andersons, Inc. (ANDE) is scheduled to report third quarter earnings after the bell on Nov 4. Despite a slowdown in the agriculture sector analysts are bullish on the quarter and expect 2009 year over year earnings growth of 23.80%.

Company Description

The Andersons is an agribusiness company operating with five business segments: Grain and Ethanol Group; Rail Group; Plant Nutrients Group, Turf & Specialty Group and Retail Group.

The company has operations in 14 states including Puerto Rico and also has rail equipment leasing interests in Canada and Mexico.

Zacks Consensus Estimates Rise

The Andersons has missed on estimates 3 out of the last 4 quarters but analysts are bullish ahead of the Nov 4 third quarter results as both the quarterly and full year estimates have been rising.

The third quarter Zacks Consensus Estimate climbed 3 cents to 39 cents in the last 30 days.

The

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The Andersons, Inc. (ANDE) is a well diversified company with interests in the grain, ethanol and plant nutrient sectors, as well as in railcar leasing and repair, turf products production, and general merchandise retailing. Andersons’ grain business is benefiting from increased space income. Given its positive outlook for the grain business, the company is keen on increasing its storage capacity. The company recently added 4 million bushels of capacity, expanding the company’s total grain storage capacity to more than 101 million bushels. In addition, Andersons is working on expanding the capacity at two of its existing facilities. The company said that each facility will increase its capacity by 750,000 bushels within the next few months. The company seeks to expand its presence into new markets through storage agreements, leases and acquisitions. Andersons’ focus on value-added proprietary products extended product lines in the Turf & Specialty ...

The Anderson's, Inc. (ANDE) reported second quarter results on Aug 5 and missed on analysts' estimates, yet third quarter and full-year Zacks Consensus Estimates continue to move higher. ANDE trades at 14x forward earnings.

Company Description

The Anderson's is a diversified agribusiness company with interests in grain and plant nutrients, railcar leasing and repair, industrial products formulation, turf products, retailing and ethanol operations. The company has operations in 12 states and Puerto Rico as well as rail equipment leasing interests in Canada and Mexico.

Grain Business Strong in the Second Quarter

On Aug 5, The Andersons reported second quarter results that missed on the Zacks Consensus Estimate by 4 cents. The estimates had been rising into the number. Earnings per share were 87 cents compared to the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 91 cents.

Revenues fell year over year to $811 billion from $1.1 billion but second quarter 2008 was

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