Archer Daniels Midland Company ADM posted soft third-quarter 2024 results, wherein the bottom and top lines missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate. Both the metrics also declined on a year-over-year basis.
Earlier this month, ADM announced preliminary results for the third quarter of 2024. The company revealed that it will amend its 2023 Form 10-K and Form 10-Q for the first and second quarters of 2024 to restate the segment information disclosure. The restated filings will have corrections for the identified faults regarding the intersegment sales. The company had identified other misclassified intersegment transactions while testing new controls.
Hence, the company continues making enhancements to internal controls to drive integrity and accuracy of reporting. Also, it continues focusing on productivity and operational excellence, as well as maintaining a disciplined approach to capital allocation.
The company has informed that that files2023 Form 10-K and Subsequent Forms 10-Q have been restated. This restatement has no impact on consolidated financial results for 2023 and Q1 and Q2 of 2024.
An Insight Into ADM’s Q3 Performance
Adjusted earnings of $1.09 per share missed the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $1.26. Also, the figure declined 33% from earnings of $1.63 per share in the year-ago quarter. On a reported basis, Archer Daniels’ earnings were 4 cents per share, down 97% from the year-ago quarter’s $1.52.
Revenues fell 8.1% year over year to $19.9 billion and lagged the consensus estimate of $20.6 billion.
Archer Daniels Midland Company Price, Consensus and EPS Surprise
Archer Daniels Midland Company price-consensus-eps-surprise-chart | Archer Daniels Midland Company Quote
Segment-wise, revenues for Ag Services & Oilseeds fell 8.5% year over year to $15.1 billion, while Carbohydrate Solutions’ revenues dropped 12.1% year over year to $2.9 billion. However, Nutrition reported almost year-over-year flat revenues of $1.8 billion.
The gross profit decreased 22.2% year over year to $1.4 billion, while the gross margin fell 150 basis points to 6.8%. SG&A expenses rose 11% year over year to $905 billion.
Archer Daniels reported an adjusted segmental operating profit of $1 billion, down 28% from the year-ago quarter.
The company has a trailing four-quarter return on invested capital of 8.8%, on an adjusted basis.
ADM’s Segmental Operating Profit
Adjusted operating profit for Ag Services & Oilseeds plunged 43% year over year to $480 million. The Ag Services subsegment’s operating profit fell 53%, mainly owing to soft results in South America Origination, as weak farmer selling and higher logistics costs associated with the industry take-or-pay contracts resulted in lower margins.
The Crushing subsegment’s operating profit dropped 25% year over year. Global soybean crush margins increased on solid margins in EMEA. However, elevated canola seed prices owing to less supply in Europe led to lower canola crush margins and overall soft results. In the reported quarter, there were nearly zero mark-to-market timing impacts compared with $100 million of favorable impacts in the year-ago period.
The Refined Products & Other (RPO) subsegment’s operating profit declined 63%, mainly due to soft results in North America, as increased imports of used cooking oil and elevated pre-treatment capacity led to lower refining and global biodiesel margins. Equity earnings from ADM’s investment in Wilmar were $62 million compared with $35 million in the year-ago quarter.
The Carbohydrate Solutions segment’s adjusted operating profit dipped 3% year over year to $452 million. The Starches and Sweeteners sub-segment rose 13% year over year on robust starches and sweeteners margins coupled with increased volumes. In the Vantage Corn Processing subsegment, operating loss of $3 million fell year over year, owing to elevated inventories and production.
In the Nutrition segment, the adjusted operating profit of $105 million decreased 19% from $130 million in the year-ago quarter. The Human Nutrition subsegment’s operating profit was $86 million, roughly 27% lower from the prior-year period, including robust performance by recent Flavors M&A, lapping of non-recurring gains in the year-ago period, changes in inventory adjustments and other costs, consisting of costs related to the closure of a joint venture. In the Animal Nutrition subsegment, the operating profit of $19 million increased 58% year over year on cost-optimization actions and reduced input costs, which aided margins.
Archer Daniels’ Other Financials
The company ended the quarter with cash and cash equivalents of $784 million; long-term debt, including current maturities, of $8.3 billion; and shareholders’ equity of $22 billion. As of Sept. 30, 2024, ADM provided $2.5 billion in cash for operating activities.
The company repurchased shares worth $2.3 billion and cash dividends of $744 million during the nine months of 2024.
What to Expect From ADM Ahead?
Moving ahead, management foresees soft market conditions in the next year. However, it has been making moves to boost performance and value creation.
Earlier, management trimmed its earlier-issued earnings per share (EPS) view to $4.50-$5.00 for the full year when it reported the preliminary results. It had earlier anticipated EPS to be in the range of $5.25-$6.25. However, management has currently reaffirmed its EPS view for 2024, based on the year-to-date trends, uncertainty in legislative and regulatory policy, weak market demand and internal operational headwinds.
For the upcoming quarter, within the reportable segments, management anticipates lower year-over-year segment operating profit in Ag Services & Oilseeds. The improved environment in Ag Services is likely to be more than offset by weak margins in Crushing and Refined Products & Other.
In Carbohydrate Solutions, higher demand and margins in North American Starches & Sweeteners, and solid fundamentals in ethanol are anticipated to be offset by moderating wheat milling margins. This will result in in-line segment operating profit for the fourth quarter. In Nutrition, management expects the fourth-quarter operating profit to be higher year over year. However, the metric is expected to be lower sequentially. This is owing to weak consumer demand, a fall in texturants pricing and persistent operational headwinds, with prolonged downtime at Decatur East.
We note that shares of this Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) company have lost 10.9% in the past three months against the industry’s 3.1% growth.
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VITL has a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 82.5%.
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The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NOMD’s current financial-year sales and EPS indicates growth of 4.9% and 25.5%, respectively, from the year-ago figures.
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