FMC Corp forecasts first-quarter revenue below estimates, shares dive

FMC

04/02/2025 22:10

Feb 4 (Reuters) - Agrichemicals producer FMC Corp
 FMC.N  forecast first-quarter revenue below Wall Street
estimates on Tuesday, owing to weak demand, sending its shares
down over 20% in after-market trading.
    The company's sales volume is expected to be lower as
customers in various countries continue to reduce inventory and
purchases are made cautiously by retailers and growers amid
lower commodity prices, the company said.
    High inventory levels of crop chemicals in multiple regions
have been putting pressure on the earnings of insecticide and
fungicide producers such as FMC.
    FMC is one of the largest crop-protection product makers in
the United States and competes with industry giants such as
Syngenta, as well as German firms BASF  BASFn.DE  and Bayer
 BAYGn.DE  in the agricultural chemicals sector.
    The company, however, beat Wall Street's fourth-quarter
profit expectations, helped by higher sales volumes, especially
in the United States, and lower costs.
    "While we saw a good increase in volume, the growth was
below our expectations as we learned during the quarter that
customers in many countries sought to hold significantly less
inventory than they have historically. This dynamic, along with
more pronounced FX impacts, acted as a headwind to further
growth," CEO Pierre Brondeau said in a statement.
    The herbicide maker forecast first-quarter 2025 revenue in
the range of $750 million to $800 million. Analysts'
expectations were of $963.7 million.
    First-quarter adjusted earnings are expected to be in the
range of $0.05 to $0.15 per share, compared to estimates of
$0.83 per share.    
    The Philadelphia-based company posted an adjusted profit of
$1.79 cents per share for the three months ended Dec. 31,
compared with analysts' average estimate of $1.6 cents per
share, according to data compiled by LSEG.

 (Reporting by Vallari Srivastava and Mrinalika Roy in
Bengaluru; Editing by Mohammed Safi Shamsi)
 ((Srivastava.Vallari@thomsonreuters.com;))