Nutrien Ltd. NTR recorded a profit of $19 million or 2 cents per share for first-quarter 2025, down from $165 million or 32 cents in the year-ago quarter.

Barring one-time items, adjusted earnings per share were 11 cents, down from 46 cents a year ago. The bottom line missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 33 cents.

Sales fell around 5.4% year over year to $5,100 million in the quarter. The figure lagged the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5,322.3 million.

Net earnings and adjusted EBITDA declined due to lower potash net selling prices in North America, higher phosphate expenses and reduced retail earnings. (Find the latest EPS estimates and surprises on Zacks Earnings Calendar.)

Nutrien Ltd. Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise

Nutrien Ltd. price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Nutrien Ltd. Quote

NTR’s Segment Highlights

Sales in the Nutrien Ag Solutions (Retail) segment declined 7% year over year to $3,090 million in the quarter. The figure missed our estimate of $4,076.6 million. Retail adjusted EBITDA fell in the reported quarter, owing to lower gross margins for crop protection products and crop nutrients, which more than offset lower expenses and increased seed margins.

The Potash division’s sales declined 8% year over year to $744 million, topping our estimate of $501.4 million. Potash adjusted EBITDA fell in the first quarter of 2025 due to reduced net selling prices in North America.

Sales in the Nitrogen segment were $954 million, up around 5% year over year. The reported figure beat our estimate of $671.9 million. Nitrogen adjusted EBITDA fell in the first quarter, primarily due to higher natural gas costs and reduced equity earnings, which were somewhat offset by higher net selling prices. 

Sales in the Phosphate segment were $360 million, down around 18% year over year. The figure topped our estimate of $253.6 million. Phosphate adjusted EBITDA decreased in the first quarter as a result of lower production volumes and higher input costs, notably sulfur.

NTR’s Financials

At the end of the quarter, NTR had cash and cash equivalents of $895 million, up around 80.4% year over year. Long-term debt was $10,908 million, up nearly 22.4% year over year.

NTR’s Guidance

The company has reiterated its 2025 guidance. Retail adjusted EBITDA is expected to range from $1.65 billion to $1.85 billion. Sales volumes are expected to be in the bands of 13.6-14.4 million tons of potash, 10.7-11.2 million tons of nitrogen and 2.35-2.55 million tons of phosphate. Depreciation and amortization are expected to total between $2.35 billion and $2.45 billion, with finance costs projected to range from $0.65 billion to $0.75 billion. The effective tax rate on adjusted net earnings is expected to range between 22% and 25%. Capital expenditures are estimated to be between $2 billion and $2.1 billion.

Story Continues

NTR’s Price Performance

Nutrien’s shares have lost 1.4% in the past year against a 7.5% rise of the industry.Zacks Investment Research

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NTR’s Zacks Rank & Key Picks

NTR currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Better-ranked stocks worth a look in the basic materials space include Hawkins, Inc. HWKN, Contango Ore, Inc. CTGO and CSW Industrials, Inc. CSWI, each carrying a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy).  You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Hawkins is scheduled to report fiscal fourth-quarter results on May 14. The consensus estimate for Hawkins’ earnings is pegged at 74 cents. HWKN beat the consensus estimate in one of the last four quarters while missing thrice, with the average earnings surprise being 6.1%. 

Contango Ore is slated to release first-quarter results on May 14. CTGO has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 213.7%, on average. 

CSW Industrials is slated to release fiscal fourth-quarter results on May 22. The consensus estimate for CSWI’s fourth-quarter earnings is pegged at $2.23. CSWI has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 10.1%, on average.

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