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Mosaic (MOS) Stock Hits 52-Week High: What's Driving It?

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The Mosaic Company (MOS - Free Report) scaled a fresh 52-week high of $69.65 on Mar 23, before closing the session at $67.93.

The company, sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), has a market cap of around $24.2 billion. It also has an expected long-term earnings per share growth rate of around 7%.

Shares of Mosaic have soared 120.8% in the past year compared with a 70.1% surge of the industry.

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What’s Driving MOS?

Mosaic is benefiting from higher prices and demand for phosphate and potash. Higher agricultural commodity prices and attractive farm economics are driving demand for fertilizers globally. Farmer economics remain attractive in most global growing regions on strong crop demand, affordable inputs and favorable weather. Strong demand, low inventories and supply disruptions have also fueled rapid price increases for fertilizers in the United States and globally.

Global phosphate markets remain robust on solid demand and pricing dynamics. Tight availability along with firm demand is driving up phosphate prices globally. Potash prices have also strengthened on the back of robust global demand, aided by strong grower economics and higher crop prices.

The company, in its fourth-quarter call, stated that it expects strong agricultural commodity pricing trends to continue driving demand for fertilizers through 2022. It expects phosphate demand to remain strong globally.

Mosaic is also taking actions to reduce costs amid a still-challenging operating environment. Its actions to improve its operating cost structure through transformation plans are expected to boost profitability. Transformational savings are also expected to drive margins in the Mosaic Fertilizantes segment.

Earnings estimates for Mosaic have also been going up in the past two months. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for 2022 has increased around 29.2%. The consensus estimate for first-quarter 2022 has also been revised 11.7% upward over the same time frame. The favorable estimate revisions instill investor confidence in the stock.

 

Stocks to Consider

Some other top-ranked stocks in the basic materials space are Univar Solutions Inc. , AdvanSix Inc. (ASIX - Free Report) and Allegheny Technologies Incorporated (ATI - Free Report) .

Univar has a projected earnings growth rate of 18.5% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for UNVR's current-year earnings has been revised 34.2% upward in the past 60 days.

Univar beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in three of the last four quarters. It has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of roughly 30.9%, on average. UNVR has rallied around 56.8% in a year and currently sports a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

AdvanSix has a projected earnings growth rate of 64.8% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ASIX’s current-year earnings has been revised 58% upward in the past 60 days.

AdvanSix beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in three of the trailing four quarters, the average being 23.6%. ASIX has surged 99.3% in a year. The company sports a Zacks Rank #1.

Allegheny, currently carrying a Zacks Rank #1, has an expected earnings growth rate of 661.5% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for ATI's earnings for the current year has been revised 45.6% upward in the past 60 days.

Allegheny beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate for earnings in each of the trailing four quarters, the average being 127.2%. ATI has rallied around 33.3% over a year.


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