Sociedad Quimica Earnings and Sales Top Estimates in Q1

Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. SQM recorded a loss of $3.04 per share for first-quarter 2024. This compares to earnings of $2.63 in the year-ago quarter.
Barring one-time items, earnings came in at 80 cents per share. The Zacks Consensus Estimate was of a loss of $1.72.
The company registered revenues of $1,084.5 million for the quarter, down around 52% year over year. It beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1,056.2 million.
The company's results were hurt by lower average sales prices. However, it saw record-high sales volumes in the iodine business and higher volumes in lithium and specialty nutrition and potassium business lines in the reported quarter.

Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Sociedad Quimica y Minera S.A. Quote

Segment Highlights

Revenues from the Lithium and Derivatives segment fell roughly 67% year over year to $547.4 million in the reported quarter. Higher sales volumes (up 34% year over year) were more than offset by lower average sales prices (down around 75% year over year).
The Specialty Plant Nutrients ("SPN") segment raked in revenues of $207.8 million, down around 6% year over year. Sales were hurt by significantly lower average sales prices.
Revenues from the Iodine and Derivatives unit came in at $240.1 million, up around 0.2% year over year. Sales were aided by higher sales volumes, offset by lower sales prices.
Revenues from the Potassium business fell roughly 27% year over year to $63.6 million. Significantly lower average sales prices more than offset higher sales volumes.
The Industrial Chemicals unit recorded sales of $21.8 million, down around 67% year over year, impacted by significantly lower sales volumes.

Financials

The company's cash and cash equivalents were $1,315.7 million at the end of the quarter, up around 26% sequentially. Long-term debt was $2,940.3 million, down around 8% year over year.

Outlook

Moving ahead, SQM sees lithium market demand to rise 20% this year, reaching more than 1.1 million metric tons. Based on this projected demand growth, especially in China, SQM expects its sales volumes to reach roughly 200,000 metric tons in 2024.
In SPN, the company saw favorable trends in the potassium nitrate market during the initial months of this year, reflected by strong demand growth and stable market prices. It projects total potassium nitrate market demand to increase around 15% compared with 2023. SQM expects its sales volumes to rise in sync with this demand.
In iodine and derivatives, the company expects its sales volumes to increase on a year-over-year basis in 2024. It has also witnessed iodine prices stabilize over the past few months and believes that this price stability could continue in the balance of 2024, with potential for a modest upside.
For potassium, the company expects sales volumes to reach 600,000 metric tons in 2024.

Price Performance

Shares of Sociedad Quimica are down 26.4% over a year compared with the industry's decline of 3.8%.

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

Zacks Rank & Other Fertilizers Releases

SQM currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).
The Mosaic Company MOS logged first-quarter adjusted earnings per share of 65 cents, beating the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 60 cents.
MOS noted that agricultural fundamentals remain strong, with grains and oilseeds stock-to-use ratios are expected to remain under pressure. Although corn and soybean prices have softened, farmers worldwide remain profitable. Many growers in certain parts of the world, after years of reduced fertilizer use, are aiming to restore soil nutrients.
Nutrien Ltd. NTR recorded adjusted earnings per share of 46 cents for the first quarter. The figure beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 36 cents.
NTR expects potash sales volumes of between 13 and 13.8 million tons for 2024, assuming a more balanced distribution of volumes between the first and second halves compared to the prior year. It also sees nitrogen sales volumes in the range of 10.6-11.2 million tons. Phosphate sales volumes are forecast in the band of 2.6-2.8 million tons for 2024.
CF Industries Holdings, Inc. CF reported first-quarter earnings of $1.03 per share, down from $2.85 per share in the year-ago quarter. The figure missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.47.
CF anticipates that worldwide demand will continue to be strong in the near future due to recovering industrial demand and farmer economics, while global nitrogen trade flows will adjust to account for the extra supply of nitrogen that is available for international trade.

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