CF Industries Holdings Inc. reported third-quarter net earnings attributable to common shareholders of $130.9 million ($2.62 per diluted share) on sales of $921.4 million compared to the year-ago $234.1 million ($4.07 per share) and $1.1 billion, respectively.
CF said a 6 percent increase in nitrogen volumes during the third-quarter (half of which was contracted to The Mosaic Co.) was partially offset by marginally lower realized prices.
“The continuing strong fundamentals of our business were masked as higher natural gas costs worked their way through inventory and into the cost of goods sold and several third quarter specific items impacted our results,” said CF President and CEO Tony Will. “While our business is subject to quarter-to-quarter volatility due to the impact of weather dynamics on our input costs and timing of end-user behavior, its long term cash flow characteristics are relatively stable and enduring. Steadily growing nitrogen demand, an advantaged position on the global nitrogen cost curve, a competitive set of distribution assets and a focused management team provide confidence in our strong long-term cash flow generation capacity. Our strategy to increase capacity and return capital to shareholders remains sound, and we are committed to maintaining our disciplined focus on its execution.”
Will noted that natural gas prices have moderated and the company has locked in 90 percent of its supplies through first-quarter 2015 at an average floor price of $3.41/mmBtu and ceiling of $4.25/mmBtu.
The company also sees robust nitrogen demand in 2015, with corn acreage of 90 million acres.
CF year-to-date earnings remained just ahead of year-ago. Nine-month earnings were $1.15 billion ($22.16 per share) on sales of $3.53 billion, up from the year-ago $1.14 billion ($19.01 per share) on sales of $4.15 billion.