Here's Why You Should Hold FMC Stock in Your Portfolio for Now

FMC Corporation FMC benefits from efforts to expand its product portfolio through new product launches and its restructuring actions amid headwinds from pricing pressures and de-stocking.

FMC’s shares are down 44.8% in a year compared with the Zacks Agriculture – Operations industry’s 20.2% decline.

Let’s find out why FMC stock is worth retaining at the moment.

New Products, Restructuring Actions Aid FMC Stock

FMC remains focused on strengthening its product portfolio. It is investing in technologies as well as new product launches to enhance value to the farmers. New products launched in Europe, North America and Asia are gaining significant traction. Product introductions are expected to support the company’s results this year. 

The acquisition of BioPhero ApS, a Denmark-based pheromone research and production company, also adds biologically produced state-of-the-art pheromone insect control technology to the company’s product portfolio and R&D pipeline, highlighting FMC's role as a leader in delivering innovative and sustainable crop protection solutions.

The company is seeing strong performance of its growth portfolio, including Cyazypyr active and new active ingredients fluindapyr and Isoflex Active, which are generating higher sales. FMC expects Cyazypyr active sales to grow in the low-to-mid-teens from 2025-2027. It also sees fluindapyr sales to be more than $150 million in 2025. Isoflex Active sales are projected to be about $100 million in 2025.

FMC is also making progress with its global restructuring and cost-reduction program. It saw benefits from restructuring of $165 million on full-year 2024 adjusted EBITDA, with more than $225 million run rate savings expected by the end of 2025. The benefits of restructuring actions are expected to be reflected in the company's margins in 2025.

De-stocking, Pricing & FX Headwinds Weigh on FMC Stock

FMC faces near-term headwinds from inventory de-stocking. Continued active inventory management is expected to weigh on the company’s volumes. The company is seeing channel de-stocking in India and Latin America. FMC projects revenues for the first quarter to be in the $750-$800 million range, indicating a 16% decrease at the midpoint from the same period in 2024. Volume is expected to fall as customers in various countries continue to cut inventories and retailers and growers make cautious purchases in an environment of low commodity prices.

Weaker prices are also likely to weigh on the company’s revenues in 2025. It faced headwinds from weaker prices in the fourth quarter. The pricing headwind is expected to continue in the first quarter of 2025. FMC sees mid-to-high-single digit price decline in the first quarter mainly due to the price adjustments for diamide partner contracts. For full-year 2025, it expects a low-to-mid-single digit price decline. Lower pricing is expected to hurt its sales and margins.

The company faces challenges from unfavorable currency translation stemming from a stronger U.S. dollar. It saw a 5% currency headwind on its revenues in the fourth quarter. FMC expects a low to-mid-single-digit headwind on its top line from currency swings in 2025, with significant impacts expected from the Brazilian real, the Turkish lira and the euro.

FMC Corporation Price and Consensus

FMC Corporation price-consensus-chart | FMC Corporation Quote

FMC’s Zacks Rank & Other Key Picks

FMC currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Better-ranked stocks in the Basic Materials space are Ingevity Corporation NGVT, ArcelorMittal S.A. MT and Carpenter Technology Corporation CRS. While NGVT sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), MT and CRS carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), each. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Ingevity’s 2025 earnings is pegged at $4.45, indicating a rise of 26.8% from year-ago levels. The consensus estimate for NGVT’s 2025 earnings has increased by 29% in the past 60 days. 

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ArcelorMittal’s 2025 earnings is pegged at $3.87, indicating a rise of 31.2% from year-ago levels. MT beat the consensus estimate in three of the trailing four quarters while it missed once. In this time frame, it has delivered an earnings surprise of roughly 4.1%, on average. 

The consensus estimate for Carpenter Technology for the current fiscal year stands at $6.95, reflecting a 46.6% year-over-year increase. CRS beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the last four quarters, with the average earnings surprise being 15.7%. 

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This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

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