12:00 PM EST - Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc. : reported third-quarter net earnings of $248.8 million U.S. or $0.82 U.S. per share, compared to $1.2 billion U.S. or $3.93 U.S. per share, in the same quarter last year. Sales for the quarter declined to $1.099 billion U.S., from $3.064 billion U.S. in the year ago quarter. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.81 U.S. per share on revenues of $1.06 billion for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items. PotashCorp expects fourth-quarter net income per share to be in the range of $0.65- $0.85 U.S. The company now expects fiscal 2009 net income to be at the low end of the prior range $3.25-$3.75 U.S. per share. Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $3.50 U.S. per share for fiscal 2009. The company now expects its 2009 potash gross margin to fall within the range of $700-$900 million U.S. and total shipments to be 3.0-3.2 million tonnes. The company anticipates global potash demand in 2010 will approximate 50 million tonnes. Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan Inc.
shares T.POT are trading up $2.00 at $109.30.
