2 Strong Agricultural Stocks To Buy, 3 To Avoid
While not always the most level playing field, agriculture sure is a fertile arena in which to invest. No genius required or mulling over complicated reports and graphs: everyone always needs some fruit of the earth. Bearing this great universal truth in mind, here are some companies worth taking a look at.
Agrium Inc. ( AGU ): Trading presently at around $72.50 which price falls in the middle zone of its 52-week range of $60.15-$99.14, this stock has as attractive earnings per share of $8.36 and a price to earnings ratio of 8.68. Agrium , a major retail supplier of agricultural products, is among the industry giants injecting fresh money into business extension. An increase of 50% is expected in company production by 2014, when its latest expansion project is slated for completion in its Saskatchewan potash facility.
Its strong competitor, CF Industries Holding Inc. ( CF ), has a market capitalization of $10.70 Billion versus Agrium's of $11.51 billion, a mere $1 billion apart! Contrast the figures for price to earnings ratio which is 8.88 and you can say these companies are neck and neck. But, the plot thickens right about here: CF Industries Holding Inc. has an earnings per share of $18.18! So, yes, Agrium, do keep an eye out, eh? Especially for those rich and fickle investors who might want to blow $161 on a single share versus applaud you for your 4% growth rate! I wouldn't be in any rush to buy Agrium. I will be watching it, though.
MANILA, Philippines — Surging world crude prices further pushed up the cost of fuel in the Philippines, but the Department of Energy (DoE) said it was not inclined to cap prices despite claims that oil firms were engaged in price-gouging.