Barclays has dropped its bullish stance on FMC Corp. after the agricultural chemicals maker delivered weaker-than-expected results and slashed its dividend, raising fresh concerns about earnings visibility and expiring patents.
“Given soft results, limited to no visibility on earnings in coming quarters, and a surprise dividend cut, we see little reason to maintain a constructive view on FMC,” wrote analyst Benjamin Theurer and his team in a note to clients Thursday.
The bank more than halved its price target to $22 from $48 and downgraded the stock to Equal Weight from Overweight, citing weaker prospects for revenue growth, EBITDA generation, dividend payouts, and cash flow.
FMC now expects adjusted EBITDA between $830 million and $870 million, implying a 6% decline from last year at the midpoint of the range. Barclays had previously projected a 10% increase.
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Revenue guidance is now between $3.92 billion and $4.02 billion, excluding India — a 5% cut to prior estimates and about 7% lower year over year. The company is also expected to burn cash (instead of a positive free cash flow) or, at best, break even.
In a bid to preserve liquidity and reduce debt, FMC reduced its quarterly dividend to $0.08 per share, down sharply from a prior estimate of $0.58.
“With all this combined, we unfortunately step back from our view that FMC deserves to trade in line with its historical multiples of 12 to 13 times, as operations have repeatedly delivered results below expectations,” the analysts wrote.
Barclays cut its full-year revenue forecast by 15%, now expecting $3.5 billion in sales, an 18% drop from last year, with partial recovery seen in 2026. The bank projects EBITDA to fall to $820 million this year before inching up 1% in 2026 to $830 million.
