Forget FMC: Instead Buy This Unstoppable Farming Titan That's Up 11% in 2025 and Still Running

• Fertilizer institution FMC saw stock prices plummet passim 2025, but there's different cultivation banal that has delivered affirmative gains.

• Farm machinery shaper Deere is up by astir 11% year-to-date contempt unfavorable macroeconomic conditions successful the cultivation space.

• While FMC's aboriginal is highly uncertain, Deere whitethorn person a way to higher prices based connected its pivot towards selling AI-enabled services to its customers.

• 10 stocks we similar amended than Deere & Company ›

It's an understatement to accidental that investors successful FMC (NYSE: FMC) person had a pugnacious year. Year-to-date, shares successful the fertilizer and cultivation chemicals institution person fallen by astir 73%. By comparison, the S&P 500 scale is up astir 17%.

FMC's important declines are chiefly owed to anemic results, coupled with the company's determination to trim its quarterly dividend from $0.48 per stock to $0.08 per share. Worse yet, it's not arsenic if the particulate has afloat settled. Uncertainty implicit the company's aboriginal remains high, casting uncertainty connected whether it's clip to bargain the dip.

In contrast, determination is different cultivation banal that not lone has performed acold amended than FMC but whitethorn beryllium connected the way to present steady, coagulated gains successful the years up arsenic it capitalizes connected advancements successful artificial quality (AI) to nutrient a full caller gross stream. The "other cultivation stock" I'm referring to is Deere & Co. (NYSE: DE).

In immoderate cases, buying connected weakness tin beryllium a profitable strategy. In different cases, it tin beryllium akin to trying to drawback a falling knife. This year, FMC has been a premier illustration of this. Investors who bought successful astatine betwixt $30 and $40 per share, aft the stock's archetypal driblet past winter, experienced dense losses erstwhile the banal tumbled again successful October pursuing the quality of the dividend cut.

That lawsuit resulted successful shares going from $30 down to arsenic debased arsenic $12.17 per share. Currently, FMC is trading modestly supra its lows, but don't presume it's each uphill from here. Recently, Barclays expert Benjamin Theurer downgraded the stock, citing the imaginable of further market-share losses and borderline pressure. Theurer besides noted that FMC's recognition downgrade could complicate restructuring efforts.

Yes, FMC's guardant valuation reflects this precocious uncertainty. Currently, the banal trades astatine a guardant price-to-earnings (P/E) aggregate of conscionable 6. That's good beneath the valuation of akin cultivation input stocks, specified arsenic CF Industries and The Mosaic Co. Both of these names are besides presently trading astatine discount guardant valuations.