Agrium goes well beyond potash

Article Excerpt

AGRIUM INC. $90 (Toronto symbol AGU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 147.0 million; Market cap: $13.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 2.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.agrium.com) gets just 4% of its revenue and 8% of its earnings from selling potash. As a result, the stock held up well after the break-up of a marketing alliance between two major potash producers in Russia and Belarus. The split could lead to sharply lower potash prices. Prices for other fertilizers have also suffered recently, as coolerthan- normal weather prompted farmers to delay the spring planting season. That’s why Agrium’s earnings in the three months ended June 30, 2013 fell 14.8%, to $736 million from $864 million a year earlier (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). Earnings per share fell 9.7%, to $4.94 from $5.47. However, sales rose 3.6%, to $7.0 billion from $6.8 billion, after an acquisition raised revenue at Agrium’s retail division by 6.6%….