Merger savings help Nutrien expand

Article Excerpt

NUTRIEN LTD. $71 (Toronto symbol NTR; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Resources sector; Shares outstanding: 594.6 million; Market cap: $42.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 3.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.nutrien.com) took its current form on January 1, 2018, through the merger of Agrium (old symbol AGU) and rival fertilizer producer Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan (old symbol POT). In addition to selling bulk fertilizers, the new firm sells agricultural supplies to farmers through over 1,700 retail outlets in seven countries. The combined company earned $41 million, or $0.07 a share, in the three months ended March 31, 2019 (all amounts except share price and market cap in U.S. dollars). A year earlier, Nutrien lost $1 million, or nil per share. If you disregard costs related to the merger and other unusual items, the company earned $0.20 a share in the latest quarter. Revenue rose 0.7%, to $3.69 billion from $3.67 billion a year earlier. That gain was due to increased potash prices and volumes. They offset…