Has Agrium Inc. (USA) (AGU) Become the Perfect Stock? – Potash Corp./Saskatchewan (USA) (POT), Mosaic Co (MOS)

On the potash side of the business, Agrium recently agreed to a deal with China’s Sinofert to send potash fertilizer to the emerging-market nation. The contract gave Sinofert a good deal from a price standpoint, but it also will help Agrium and its peers sell off excess potash inventory in preparation for the next upward move in price for the commodity.

In its most recent quarter, Agrium topped estimates, posting all-time highs in net earnings on a roughly 2.5% gain in revenue. Yet the results haven’t appeared to assuage hedge-fund investor JANA Partners, which has asked its fellow Agrium shareholders to vote in a slate of directors that it has chosen at its coming annual shareholder meeting. The company has moved up its annual meeting by a month, and with allegations going back and forth between JANA and Agrium over their respective intentions, the meeting is sure to be contentious.

For Agrium to improve, it needs to continue with its aggressive dividend payout increases and work on getting its balance sheet back in order. With favorable conditions in the agriculture industry persisting, Agrium has plenty of chances to get closer to perfection in the years ahead.

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The article Has Agrium Become the Perfect Stock? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Dan Caplinger.

Fool contributor Dan Caplinger and The Motley Fool have no position in any of the stocks mentioned.

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