CF Industries Holdings, Inc. CF announced that the new urea plant at its Donaldsonville (LA) Nitrogen Complex started operating on Nov 17, 2015. The plant is operating at a steady and stable level.
Since its start-up, the plant has produced more than 80,000 tons of granular urea. The plant is the first to be commissioned and part of the company’s major capacity expansion projects in North America. In fact, it is the first world-scale urea plant to be completed in North America since 1998. Once the capacity expansion project is complete, the complex will be the world’s largest nitrogen facility.
The new plant represents a significant landmark in CF Industries’ capacity expansion projects. Donaldsonville’s increased capacity and unrivaled logistics capability will allow the company to serve its North American customers better while offering attractive returns to shareholders.
Output for urea at Donaldsonville in 2016 has been forecast within 2.2–3.2 million tons depending on product mix, up from an average annual product of 1.7 million tons currently.
Last month, CF Industries released the third-quarter 2015 results. The company’s adjusted earnings (excluding one-time items) decreased roughly 17% to 49 cents per share from 59 cents a year ago. Earnings per share also missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 74 cents by a wide margin.
Sales rose roughly 0.7% year over year to $927.4 million and exceeded the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $924 million. The improvement came on the back of the GrowHow acquisition (about $84 million in incremental revenues), and higher volume of exports and domestic spot sales of ammonia.
CF Industries currently carries a Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell).
Some better-ranked stocks in the basic materials sector are Harmony Gold Mining Company Limited HMY, Richmont Mines Inc. RIC and Sibanye Gold Limited SBGL. All these stock have a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).
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