CF Industries Holdings Inc. reported third-quarter net income attributable to common shareholders of $438 million on net sales of $2.32 billion, up from the year-ago loss of $185 million and sales of $1.36 billion. Adjusted EBITDA was $983 million, up from the year-ago $488 million.
CF missed the Bloomberg Consensus, the average estimate from major analysts on net income, sales, and adjusted EBITDA. Analysts had projected $686.4 million, $2.4 billion, and $1.16 billion, respectively.
CF shares fell as much as 7.5% in New York before reversing losses to trade 2.6% higher, Bloomberg reported. CF sees the current price declines as a short-term issue and remains bullish on the demand outlook.
“The CF Industries team continues to deliver outstanding results as we work safely, run our plants extremely well, and leverage our distribution and logistics capabilities to serve customers in North America and around the world,” said Tony Will, CF President and CEO.
“The conditions that have supported nitrogen prices for the last year – reduced global supply availability from lower operating rates due to high energy costs for marginal production in Europe and Asia – show no signs of abating,” Will added. “As a result, we expect the global nitrogen supply-demand balance to remain tight, with attractive margin opportunities for low-cost producers further into the future.”
CF expects the global nitrogen-supply balance will remain tight into 2025 due to agriculture-led demand and forward energy curves that point to persistently high energy prices in Europe and Asia. CF believes it will take at least two more seasons at trend yield to fully replenish global grain stocks, supporting strong grain plantings and incentivizing nitrogen fertilizer application over this time period.
Nine-month net earnings were $2.49 billion on sales of $8.58 billion, up from the year-ago $212 million and $4 billion, respectively. Adjusted EBITDA was $4.58 billion, up from $1.49 billion.
| Production (000 st) | 3Q-22 | 3Q-21 | YTD-22 | YTD-21 |
| Ammonia | 2,283 | 2,186 | 7,366 | 6,897 |
| Gran Urea | 1,187 | 987 | 3,418 | 3,139 |
| UAN 32 | 1,381 | 1,311 | 4,879 | 4,628 |
| AN | 358 | 332 | 1,162 | 1,256 |
| Ammonia | 3Q-22 | 3Q-21 | YTD-22 | YTD-21 |
| Net Sales ($/M) | 531 | 344 | 2,286 | 1,009 |
| Gross Margin ($/M) | 178 | 82 | 1,211 | 334 |
| Sales Volumes (000 st) | 643 | 690 | 2,405 | 2,409 |
| Avg Selling Price ($/st) | 826 | 499 | 951 | 419 |
| Gas Costs ($/mmBtu) | 8.35 | 4.21 | 7.28 | 3.51 |
| Gran Urea | 3Q-22 | 3Q-21 | YTD-22 | YTD-21 |
| Net Sales ($/M) | 689 | 386 | 2,287 | 1,218 |
| Gross Margin ($/M) | 295 | 186 | 1,263 | 513 |
| Sales Volumes (000 st) | 1,262 | 860 | 3,539 | 3,272 |
| Avg Selling Price ($/st) | 546 | 449 | 646 | 372 |
| UAN | 3Q-22 | 3Q-21 | YTD-22 | YTD-21 |
| Net Sales ($/M) | 736 | 390 | 2,727 | 1,056 |
| Gross Margin ($/M) | 322 | 157 | 1,625 | 297 |
| Sales Volumes (000 st) | 1,644 | 1,283 | 5,098 | 4,746 |
| Avg Selling Price ($/st) | 448 | 304 | 535 | 223 |
| AN | 3Q-22 | 3Q-21 | YTD-22 | YTD-21 |
| Net Sales ($/M) | 180 | 118 | 656 | 359 |
| Gross Margin ($/M) | 44 | (4) | 198 | 22 |
| Sales Volumes (000 st) | 363 | 407 | 1,227 | 1,346 |
| Avg Selling Price ($/st) | 496 | 290 | 535 | 267 |
| Other | 3Q-22 | 3Q-21 | YTD-22 | YTD-21 |
| Net Sales ($/M) | 185 | 124 | 622 | 356 |
| Gross Margin ($/M) | 77 | 19 | 308 | 66 |
| Sales Volumes (000 st) | 496 | 544 | 1,598 | 1,749 |
| Avg Selling Price ($/st) | 373 | 228 | 389 | 204 |