Key insights
- FMC Corporation shares plummeted after the company drastically cut its third-quarter outlook due to weaker-than-expected demand and high inventory levels among channel partners. The company is implementing aggressive price reductions and restructuring its U.S. sales model to address these issues, which are expected to significantly impact revenue and EBITDA. These actions are aimed at resolving bottlenecks caused by older, higher-priced products in the channel amidst declining market prices and increased generic competition.
Investing.com -- Shares of FMC Corporation (NYSE: FMC) plunged 35% after the agricultural sciences company drastically cut its third-quarter 2026 guidance, citing weaker-than-anticipated demand and bloated inventory values among its channel partners.
The company now projects Q3 revenue to land between $65 million and $125 million, accompanied by an adjusted EBITDA loss of $510 million to $565 million. These stark revisions account for a severe $625 million to $675 million impact stemming from aggressive commercial actions. These interventions include targeted price reductions on select products currently held by channel customers across key markets, alongside a fundamental restructuring of FMC’s U.S. pricing and sales model.
“Third-quarter demand was weaker than we expected, driven by challenging market conditions and elevated levels of higher-priced FMC products held in inventory by certain channel customers, which are limiting product movement and replenishment demand,” said Pierre Brondeau, FMC’s Chairman, CEO, and President.
While FMC successfully reduced overall channel inventory volumes in 2025—leaving distributors operating with historically low physical inventory levels—the remaining stock consists largely of older, higher-priced products. This dynamic has artificially inflated the monetary value of the inventory held by customers. Furthermore, rapid market price declines, fueled in part by intensifying generic competition, have created a widening gap between the booked value of this affected inventory and current market realities.
To resolve this bottleneck, FMC is executing comprehensive commercial interventions across Brazil, Argentina, the United States, and Canada to mark down select products held in the channel. Concurrently, the company is overhauling its U.S. strategy, transitioning away from a high-gross-price, high-rebate model to significantly narrow the disparity between gross and net pricing.
Looking ahead to its balance sheet, FMC anticipates remaining in compliance with its financial covenants as of September 30, 2026. However, management plans to proactively initiate discussions with its banking syndicate to secure potential covenant modifications, ensuring the company retains adequate financial flexibility while it navigates these strategic commercial shifts.
FMC is scheduled to release its full third-quarter earnings report on October 29, 2026.
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