CTVA +12.27% ^GSPC +0.58% ^IXIC +0.45% FMC +0.33% BAYN.DE +1.09% Explore stocks on Coinbase Trading disclosure Trading disclosure The above button links to Coinbase. Yahoo Finance is not a broker-dealer or investment adviser and does not offer securities or cryptocurrencies for sale or facilitate trading. Coinbase pays us for certain activity generated through this link. Prices displayed are informational.
Corteva (NYSE:CTVA), a pure-play crop protection provider, closed at $13.91, up 12.27% after JPMorgan upgraded Corteva in premarket trading. Investors are watching how the company will fare as a stand-alone company, now separate from its seed genetics business. Trading volume reached 38.9M shares, coming in about 285% above its three-month average of 10.1M shares.
The S&P 500 (SNPINDEX:^GSPC) closed at 7,820, up 0.59%, while the Nasdaq Composite (NASDAQINDEX:^IXIC) finished at 27,600, up 0.45%. Among agricultural inputs peers, Bayer (OTC:BAYRY) closed at $12.45, up 0.40%, and FMC (NYSE:FMC) closed at $9.02, up 0.22%; the group stayed on investors' radar as Corteva's upgrade and index reshuffling drew attention.
It looks like Corteva is quickly becoming a Joel Greenblatt "special" of sorts following its recent separation from Vylor. While Vylor split with the "more interesting" business of seed genetics and a century-old germplasm library, Corteva's discounted, pure-play crop protection operations are worthy of not being forgotten about -- at least according to an analyst at JPMorgan.
Setting a $19 price target on CTVA stock, JPMorgan's bullish outlook on Corteva helped the latter's share jump 12% today. While uncertainty surrounds Corteva due to PFAS and PFOA legal liabilities inherited from its past ties to DuPont, JPM believes these costs should peak at $1.3 billion, or roughly $2 per share for Corteva, according to its modeling.
JPMorgan's $19 price target on CTVA stock reflects this expected impact, implying it still sees 37% upside in the stock. Trading at just 5.7 times the company's estimated 2027 EBITDA, Corteva might be an interesting deep-value opportunity for investors comfortable operating in this industry, but the legal liabilities worry me too much, personally, even with the company's pristine balance sheet.
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Stock Market Today, Oct. 6: Corteva Rallies 12% on Analyst Upgrade Following Spin Off was originally published by The Motley Fool
