Shares of North American fertilizer makers rebound

Tag : Fertilizer

NEW YORK, Oct 3 (Reuters) - North American fertilizer makers sawshares rebound slightly on Friday, as analysts argued thatThursday's sell-off in the sector was overdone and has made thestocks look attractive at current levels.
Shares of Mosaic (nyse: MOS - news - people ) Co were among biggest gainers in the sector, rising 10 percentto $43.60 in early trade on the New York Stock Exchange. PeersPotash Corp and Agrium Inc (nyse: AGU - news - people ) rose 8 percent and 4.8 percent, respectively, in morning tradeon the Toronto Stock Exchange.
The sell-off on Thursday began after Mosaic's quarterly earningsmissed Wall Street's expectations and the company said it wouldtrim phosphate production because of excess global inventories ofthe crop nutrient. The sell-off was exacerbated by a number ofanalyst downgrades.
Mosaic's shares fell more than 40 percent on Thursday, while peersPotash Corp, Agrium, CF Industries, Terra Industries (nyse: TRA - news - people ) and Intrepid Potash all saw their share prices tumble.
Markets overreacted on Thursday, said analyst David Riedel,president of Riedel Research Group, noting fertilizer supplyremains limited and global demand is strong.
'I think that people are being fairly short-sighted if they'rethinking that demand for foodstuff is going to fall off a cliff,'he said.
Intrepid's shares rose 11.1 percent to $25.93 in early trade on theNew York Stock Exchange, while those of CF Industries and TerraIndustries were up 6 percent and 6.3 percent, respectively.
(Reporting by Euan Rocha and Roberta Rampton in Winnipeg; Editingby Steve Orlofsky) Keywords: FERTILIZER/SHARES
Euan Rocha and Roberta Rampton
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