CF Industries beats quarterly profit estimates on strong nitrogen demand
06/05/2026 22:06
May 6 (Reuters) - U.S. fertilizer company CF Industries CF.N beat core profit estimates for the first quarter on Wednesday, as strong nitrogen demand and higher prices helped offset higher natural gas-driven production costs.
Nitrogen prices surged in the first quarter, driven by disruptions to Middle Eastern natural gas flows linked to the U.S.-Israeli conflict with Iran, tightening global supply.
The rally lifted margins for low-cost North American producers such as CF Industries, which relies on relatively cheap U.S. natural gas feedstock.
"Based on the duration of the current conflict and severe shocks to global fertilizer supply, management believes the global nitrogen supply-demand balance will remain tighter than expected in the near- and medium-term as global nitrogen trade requires time to rebalance," the company said.
The Northbrook, Illinois-based company reported an adjusted core profit of $983 million for the three months ended March 31, compared with the analysts' average estimate of $787.33 million, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Quarterly net sales in its ammonia segment rose about 20.6% to $627 million from a year earlier, while sales in the granular urea segment climbed roughly 34% to $590 million.
CF Industries produces nitrogen-based products such as ammonia, granular urea, urea ammonium nitrate solution and ammonium nitrate, key inputs for fertilizer production.
However, CF's cost of sales increased about 13.7% to $1.24 billion, from last year as the average cost of natural gas was $4.57 per million British thermal units (mmbtu), compared to $3.68 per mmbtu last year.
Shares of the company were up 1.5% in extended trading.
The company on Tuesday named Andrew Scribner as the Chief Financial Officer, effective May 26.
(Reporting by Sumit Saha in Bengaluru; Editing by Tasim Zahid)
((Sumit.Saha@thomsonreuters.com;))