Agrium is still our top fertilizer pick

Article Excerpt

A sinkhole recently forced Russia’s Uralkali to close its Solikamsk-2 mine, which accounts for 20% of Uralkali’s potash production and 3.5% of global capacity. Uralkali didn’t say how long it would take to reopen the mine, but it could close it permanently. Regardless of the length of the shutdown, high potash inventories will continue to weigh on prices. Moreover, this year’s record U.S. harvest has hurt corn, soybean and wheat prices, prompting farmers to store excess crops while they wait for a rebound. We still feel that steady sales from Agrium’s retail stores give it an advantage over bulk fertilizer producers like Potash Corp. AGRIUM INC. $109 (Toronto symbol AGU; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 143.7 million; Market cap: $15.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield 3.3%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.agrium.com) gets just 3% of its revenue from potash, so the Russian mine shutdown will have little impact on its short-term earnings. Agrium’s 1,400 retail stores supply 78%…