Mosaic net profit tops estimates

(Bloomberg) -- Mosaic Co., North America's second- largest fertilizer producer, reported fiscal second-quarter profit that beat analysts' estimates as phosphate prices soared.

Net income rose more than ninefold to $1.03 billion in the three months through November from $107.8 million a year earlier, Plymouth-based Mosaic said Tuesday in a statement. Earnings, excluding a $1.28 after-tax gain from the sale of South American fertilizer assets were $1.01 a share, topping the 92-cent average estimate of 16 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg. Sales gained 56 percent to $2.67 billion from $1.71 billion.

Rising prices for corn and soybeans are prompting farmers to buy more fertilizers to boost crop yields. Mosaic sold diammonium phosphate for $461 a metric ton in the fiscal quarter, up 61 percent from $287 a ton a year earlier.

"With supportive crop prices, tight inventories, and anticipated strong demand, the momentum appears to have returned to the fertilizer industry," Edlain Rodriguez, a New York-based analyst at Gleacher & Co., wrote in a Dec. 28 note to clients.

The company's average international selling price for potash, a form of potassium, decreased to $331 a ton from $370 a year earlier.

Mosaic is 64 percent owned by closely held Cargill Inc.

Mosaic scheduled a conference call for Wednesday at 9 a.m. CST.

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