FMC Shares Rise 10% in 3 Months: What's Driving the Stock?

FMC Corporation's FMC shares have gained 9.6% over the past three months. The company has also outperformed its industry's decline of 7.8% over the same time frame. FMC has also topped the S&P 500's roughly 2.9% rise over the same period.

Let's dive into the factors behind this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock's price appreciation.

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New Products, Restructuring Actions Aid FMC Stock

FMC delivered better-than-expected results in the second quarter on the back of higher volumes. It saw improved demand in the quarter, leading to an increase in sales volumes, especially in the United States and Brazil. The company is gaining from efforts to expand its product portfolio through new product launches and restructuring actions.

FMC is investing in technologies as well as new product launches to enhance value to the farmers. New products launched in Europe, North America and Asia are gaining significant traction. Product introductions are expected to support the company's results this year.

The company generated $590 million in sales in 2023 from new products launched in the past five years. It expects revenues from new products to grow by roughly $200 million in 2024. It expects a significant amount of volume growth to come from new products in the second half of 2024. FMC is seeing strong gains in new products including Coragen eVo and Premio Star insecticides and the Onsuva fungicide in Latin America.

The acquisition of BioPhero ApS, a Denmark-based pheromone research and production company, also adds biologically produced state-of-the-art pheromone insect control technology to the company's product portfolio and R&D pipeline, highlighting FMC's role as a leader in delivering innovative and sustainable crop protection solutions.

FMC is also expected to benefit from reduced input costs, a favorable product mix and its cost-control actions. It benefited from favorable input costs in the second quarter of 2024. FMC is also making progress with its global restructuring and cost-reduction program. It sees benefits from restructuring to contribute $75-$100 million to full-year 2024 adjusted EBITDA, net of inflation.

Stocks to Consider

Better-ranked stocks in the Basic Materials space are Newmont Corporation NEM, Element Solutions Inc ESI and Eldorado Gold Corporation EGO, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Newmont's current-year earnings is pegged at $2.82, indicating a rise of 75.2% from year-ago levels. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NEM's earnings has increased 16% in the past 60 days. The stock has rallied around 29% in the past year.

The consensus estimate for Element Solutions' current-year earnings has increased by 0.7% in the past 60 days. ESI beat the consensus estimate in three of the last four quarters while delivering in-line results on the other occasion. In this timeframe, it delivered an earnings surprise of around 3.8%, on average.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Eldorado Gold's current year earnings is pegged at $1.35 per share, indicating a year-over-year rise of 136.8%. EGO beat the consensus estimate in each of the last four quarters, with the average earnings surprise being 430.3%. The company's shares have rallied roughly 61% in the past year.

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