We downgrade Potash Corporation (POT), the world's leading producer of potash and fertilizer, to Underperform. The company has been hit hard by the global economic crisis, leading to weak demand and prices as farmers reduce their use of fertilizers. This has induced a sharp fall in profits for fertilizer producers.

Potash Corp.'s earnings declined 79% in the third quarter of 2009. The company expects fertilizer demand to remain weak for the rest of 2009, and plans to cut potash production. Potash Corp. has also lowered its expected earnings and slashed 2010 global potash demand expectations.

About 40% of global potash production capacity stands idle since the second half of 2008. The company also expects some of its capacity to remain curtailed in 2010.Zacks Investment Research

The world’s largest fertilizer producer, Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. (POT), earned 82 cents per share in the third quarter of 2009, within its previously announced guidance of 80 cents to $1.20. Earnings were slightly better than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 81 cents while it declined 79% from $3.93 per share reported in the same period of the previous year. The shortfall was based on lower demand and weaker fertilizer pricing, especially nitrogen and phosphate. The reported quarter’s sales totaled $1.1 billion, down 64% from $3.1 billion in the third quarter of 2008. The drop in sales and thereby earnings was driven by a decline in potash, phosphate and nitrogen sales volumes coupled with lower phosphate and nitrogen prices. The company blamed the global economic downturn for the drop in sales volumes and prices. However, it expects to see a strong rebound in potash sales volumes ...

Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan Inc. (POT) recently guided to earnings in the range of $3.25 to $3.75 per share in 2009, down from its July view of $4.00 to $5.00. The Zacks Consensus Estimate is pegged at $4.39.

The company attributed the downward revision in guidance to lower potash demand and limited restocking by fertilizer distributors worldwide. It said global potash producers have curtailed nearly 20 million tons of production in the last 12 months.

The company expects a 60% year-over-year decline in potash sales volumes and an 85% drop in the combined phosphate and nitrogen gross margin. It sees third-quarter profit at the low-end of its prior guidance of 80 cents to $1.20 per share. The company also trimmed its 2010 global potash demand forecast to 50 million to 55 million tons from 55 million to 60 million tons. In January, Potash Corp. had forecast earnings of

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div style="text-align: justify;"span style="font-weight: bold;"Compass Minerals (NYSE:CMP)/span is upgraded to Overweight from Neutral at JP Morgan with price target raised to $66 (prev. $50).br /br /JP Morgan notes they raised their 2010 EPS forecast for Compass from $5.05 to $5.50 to reflect 8% higher salt prices given that Compass has now completed 80% of its salt tenders for the winter season. 2010 EPS model should prove conservative because it assumes (5%) lower salt volume despite Compass expanding its capacity about 7% to displace high-priced imported salt tonnage. Firm's earnings model in effect reflects a warm winter. They also assume 2010 Sulfate of Potash (SOP) prices of $500 per ton, about a $65 premium to a conservative MOP price, which could understate 2010 EPS power by $0.50. (SOP tends to sell at a $100-$150 premium to MOP. Each $100 per ton price change in SOP prices is worth about $0.75 per ...

It has been recently reported that Canpotex – a partnership between Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (POT), Agrium Inc. (AGU) and Mosaic Co. (MOS) – has agreed to supply potash to India at $460 per ton. This is much lower than potash prices of about $700 per ton agreed upon with India last year.

Canpotex is a part of the potash cartel that controls about 75% of the global potash capacity. Besides Canpotex, the potash cartel comprises three Russian producers (Uralkali, Belaruskali, and Silvinit) and a German producer – K+S.

The price of potash – an essential crop nutrient – was obstinately high on top of falling demand. To keep pricing unaffected, the fertilizer cartel had deliberately curtailed production. About 40% of the global potash production capacity has been idled since the second half of 2008.

The recent price cut by Canpotex has indeed followed the footsteps of Silvinit and K+S,

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – July 24, 2009 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Lennar (LEN), D.R. Horton (DHI), Wells Fargo (WFC), Bank of America (BAC) and Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. (POT).

Get the most recent insight from Zacks Equity Research with the free Profit from the Pros newsletter: http://at.zacks.com/?id=5513

Here are highlights from Thursday’s Analyst Blog:

Existing Home Sales Rebounding

We got some good news on the housing front today as existing home sales rose 3.6% to a seasonally-adjusted rate of 4.89 million, up from 4.72 million rate in May and roughly even (-0.2%) with the year-ago level.

I'm not

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It’s possible that no concept in history has ever come so far, so fast, and with so little substance behind it, as “global warming.” Or, to be precise, anthropogenic global warming(AGW) – the kind caused by us puny humans rather than by that fireball that keeps the planet habitable.

We’re extraordinarily lucky. If present thinking is correct, the first single-celled living organisms may have appeared as much as 3½ billion years ago, and it would appear that once life arrived, it never went away. That’s a very long time for conditions to have remained favorable enough to keep the chain from breaking.

As the eons unspooled, Earth’s climate varied, sometimes wildly. It has been much hotter than it is today, and much colder. (One current theory holds that the average surface temperature has regularly oscillated between 120° and -50°F.) Nearly all of the changes have been due to variations, some

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Potash Producers Hopeful About Rising DemandA recent study conducted by the International Fertilizer Industry Association (IFA) has suggested a possible pick-up in fertilizer demand by the second half of this year. This led most of the fertilizer giants such as Potash Corp of Saskatchewan (POT), Intrepid Potash (IPI), Terra Industries (TRA), Agrium (AGU) and CF Industries (CF) to witness a surge in their stock prices.Since late 2008, the fertilizer industry has been adversely affected by slackening demand. Lack of confidence, limited access to credit, and lower grain prices led farmers to either defer fertilizer purchases or reduce application rates. Consequently, as the study showed, fertilizer consumption fell 14% in the first half of this year.Notwithstanding, the potash cartel (accounting for ...

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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On June 25, Potash Corp of Saskatchewan (POT) cut its 2009 second-quarter earnings guidance due to lower-than-anticipated potash sales volume and lower prices for phosphate fertilizer. The company now expects EPS of $0.70, down from its April forecast of $1.10 to $1.50.

The sales of potash - an essential crop-nutrient - is expected to be affected by a higher price on top of falling demand. Due to the ongoing credit crisis and lower grain prices, farmers have cut back on their fertilizer consumption to save on costs.

Even then, the fertilizer cartel (accounting for 75% of the global potash capacity) has deliberately cut production to keep pricing unaffected. In mid-June, Potash Corp announced to curtail its potash production by an additional 800,000 tons, bringing the total reductions in 2009 to 4.7 million tons. About 40% of the global potash production capacity has been idled since

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