Mosaic's (NYSE:MOS) Earnings Lowered by Canaccord, "Buy" Maintained

Canaccord Genuity lowered its earnings estimate for Mosaic (NYSE:MOS) in the full year of 2011, but raised earning estimates for full year 2012.

Canaccord said, "We reiterate our recommendation on Mosaic following the company’s reported Q1/F11 results. After reviewing our model, we have lowered our expected F2011 earnings estimate, but that has been offset by a similar increase to our F2012 EPS estimate.

"Despite posting a quarterly profit that nearly tripled, as demand for phosphate and potash surged, Wall Street was still left disappointed. For its fiscal first quarter, Mosaic's net income came in at $297.7 million, or $0.67 per share, compared with $100.6 million, or $0.23 per share, in the year-ago period. The Street was expecting earnings of $0.70 per share. As for the top-line, Mosaic said revenues jumped 50% to $2.19 billion, compared to the Street's expectation for $1.97 billion. Looking ahead, Mosaic expects to sell 3.3-3.6 million tons of phosphate and 1.6-1.9 million tons of potash in its fiscal second quarter."

CEO Jim Prokopanko was very positive, saying, "Agricultural commodity markets have tightened, bolstering prices and farm economics worldwide. Farmers need to plant record areas and harvest ever increasing yields to meet the world's accelerating appetite for grains and oilseeds. That implies strong growth in global crop nutrient markets."

All of this is obvious, and the key is the timing of all this, which in the near term is anything but guaranteed, although in the long term the fertilizer industry looks good.

Mosaic closed Tuesday at $60.80, gaining $2.01, or 3.42 percent. Canaccord has a price target of $66 on the company.