Agrium, Inc. (NYSE: AGU) reported Wednesday that it swung to a first quarter profit of $171 million or $1.09 per share, compared to a net loss of $1 million or 1 cent per share in the prior-year quarter. On an adjusted basis, the company reported earnings of $1.03 per share in the latest quarter. Revenue jumped 60 percent to $2.95 billion from $1.85 billion in the same quarter last year. Analysts, on average, expected the company to report earnings of 91 cents per share on revenue of $2.33 billion.
"Record high crop prices and overall strong fundamentals for agriculture and the crop input market provided the basis for Agrium's outstanding quarter, particularly in light of a slow start to the spring season. Crop nutrient demand was strong in North America and globally, providing underlying support to crop nutrient prices. This contributed to our Wholesale business achieving its best first quarter ever. The same strong fundamentals also supported results for our Retail operations, as they reported substantial increases across all product lines," said Agrium President & CEO Mike Wilson.
Looking ahead, Agrium said that it expects earnings on continuing operations for the first half of 2011 in a range of $4.40 to $4.90 per share.
Full Disclosure: None.
