FMC Corp. Earnings: Margins Rise with Revenues, Net Income Rises

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component FMC Corporation (NYSE:FMC) reported its results for the third quarter. FMC is a chemical manufacturing company that offers solutions, applications and products to agricultural, consumer and industrial markets around the world.

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FMC Corporation Earnings Cheat Sheet

Results: Net income for FMC Corporation rose to $90 million (65 cents per share) vs. $86.8 million (61 cents per share) in the same quarter a year earlier. This marks a rise of 3.7% from the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue: Rose 4.7% to $902.4 million from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: FMC Corporation reported adjusted net income of 79 cents per share. By that measure, the company beat the mean estimate of 78 cents per share. It beat the average revenue estimate of $792.7 million.

Quoting Management: Pierre Brondeau, FMC president, CEO and chairman, said, “FMC delivered another robust quarter, despite the uncertain global economic environment. Agricultural Products showed once again the power of our unique business model, with sales and earnings growth led by Latin America but also supported by strong performance in North America. Specialty Chemicals’ earnings were impacted by the lingering effects of the operational issues we faced earlier in the year in our Lithium business, which continued to reduce segment results. Industrial Chemicals delivered a smaller than expected increase in earnings, with somewhat lower than expected soda ash export prices and poor performance by the zeolites product line in Peroxygens.”

Key Stats:

The company has now surpassed analyst estimates for four quarters in a row. It beat the mark by 2 cents in the second quarter, by 4 cents in the first quarter, and by 10 cents in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year.

Revenue has risen for the last four quarters. Revenue increased 11.5% to $905.2 million in the second quarter. The figure rose 18.3% in the first quarter from the year earlier and climbed 12.1% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year from the year-ago quarter.

Looking Forward: Analysts appear increasingly optimistic about the company’s results for the next quarter. The average estimate for the fourth quarter has moved up from 80 cents a share to 81 cents over the last ninety days. At $3.47 per share, the average estimate for the fiscal year has fallen from $3.49 ninety days ago.

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(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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