Analyst Dumps Agriculture & Fertilizers (MOS, POT, MOO)

This morning is looking a little rough for some of the farming, agriculture, fertilizer, and potash stocks.  We have seen a downgrade in the sector from UBS this morning.  Potash Corp. of Saskatchewan, Inc. (NYSE: POT) and Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS) were both downgraded to Neutral from Buy by the analyst team at UBS today.  This broad call is also going to have an impact on Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (NYSE: MOO).

This downgrade on the fertilizer and potash sector comes on the heels of a Department of Agriculture forecast that noted U.S. farm profits are going to fall by 38% this year.  The belief is that the rural spending will continue to be tight at farmers manage expenses when food prices are not as high and while the value of their underlying land is getting pinched along with traditional real estate.

Moasic is down 1.4% at $50.65 in early indications and Potash Corp. is indicated down by 1.2% at $91.50 in early trading.  The Market Vectors Agribusiness ETF (NYSE: MOO) is indicated down 0.2% at $38.67, but Potash and Mosaic combined equate about 16.5% of the weighting of that ETF.

JON C. OGG