Agribusiness company Bunge Ltd. (BG) see the year 2012 to be a good year despite challenges. The company's confidence stemmed from the strong farm economics and increased planting by farmers around the globe. The company indicated that it expects South America response to be percolated to the Northern Hemisphere during the later part of the year. Meanwhile, the company's fourth quarter earnings and revenues came in above Street analysts' estimations.
The positive outlook and the fourth quarter results provide better opportunities for upside reward but margins remain a thorn in the quest.
Bunge's optimism seems to be slightly opposite to its rival Archer Daniels Midland Co. (ADM) that feared weakness in global oilseeds margin, particularly in the Euro Zone for the March quarter. ADM's revenues topped expectations, but its earnings fell shy of estimations on fall in oilseed and higher corn costs.
Bunge expects food and ingredients units to continue to contribute to its earnings in 2012 too as it had done in the last three years. On oilseed processing, the company expects to perform well as a result of huge crops from the recent past harvest besides the increased vegetable oil demand. The U.S. soybean processing and European rapeseed would likely to have difficulties till the harvest time when facilities are expected to reach at maximum utilizations in view of more freely available raw materials during that time.
For the fourth quarter, Bunge reported net income of $245 million, down 16 percent from $292 million and earnings dropped 15.4 percent to $1.65 a share from $1.95 a share in the year-ago quarter. On an adjusted basis, the company earned $1.99 a share last year.
Top line witnessed 29.2 percent growth to $16.45 billion from $12.73 billion in the previous year quarter. Street analysts' had predicted the company to deliver earnings of $1.57 a share on revenues of $13.73 billion.
On January 31, Bunge's rival Archer Daniels Midland delivered net income of $80 million or 12 cents a share, 89 percent down from $732 million or $1.14 a share in the year-ago quarter. Adjusted earnings were 51 cents a share, down 58 percent from the year earlier quarter.
Revenues, however, grew 11.4 percent to $23.3 billion from $20.9 billion in the previous year quarter. Wall Street analysts predicted the company to deliver earnings of 76 cents a share on revenues of $22.82 billion. Archer Daniels Diamond blamed the continued sluggishness in worldwide oilseeds crushing margins, more so in European Union, hurting its overall results.
Bunge's gross margin slipped to 4.48 percent from year-ago quarter's 6.51 percent and third quarter's 4.52 percent. Its net profit margin too dropped to 1.49 percent from the previous year's 2.29 percent but improved from 0.9 percent in the third quarter.
Our Take
Bunge offers better upside reward. Both Bunge and ADM reported higher revenues but earned lower profits indicating weakness in the industry. However, Bunge's earnings came in above expectations, where ADM failed. Also, Bunge predicts better on oilseed unlike ADM. Yet, Bunge needs to improve its margin for better profitability.