Loading…
Large producer of nitrogen fertilizer products—ammonia and urea—sold to farmers and industrial customers.
Large producer of nitrogen fertilizer products—ammonia and urea—sold to farmers and industrial customers.
Makes nitrogen fertiliser from natural gas and sells it into a world market, so profit is the gap between the nitrogen price and the cost of North American gas; sales are seasonal and follow planting. It sold its phosphate business in 2018 to concentrate on nitrogen, and in 2025 backed a low-carbon ammonia project, Blue Point, with JERA and Mitsui.
Moat: narrow (scale, cost advantage, installed base). Low-cost North American natural gas feedstock access supports competitive nitrogen production economics.
Headquarters: Deerfield, Illinois, US · Founded: 1946 · Employees: 2,900
Size CF Industries (CF) is a United States Materials company (Chemicals: Agricultural) with a market value of $18.1B, the 527th largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $119.39 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares gained 4.2%, against -18.0% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 3rd highest of 9 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 20.0% over the last twelve months (peer median +9.1%); the operating margin is 41.5% (peer median 13.2%).
Valuation It trades at 9.8× forward earnings against a peer median of 13.2× (2nd cheapest of 8).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about -12% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +11%, so the hurdle is -23 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 13.1 points above its cost of capital (7.2% WACC).
Backlog Backlog (remaining performance obligations) was $1.30B at 30 Sep 2026, down 43% on a year earlier — 0.2 years of trailing revenue. Backlog detail →
Credit CF Industries has 4 bonds outstanding ($3.25B), rated BBB by the agencies and trading like BBB+ at a weighted spread of 103 bp.
Short interest Short interest is 5.8% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 17 Feb 2027 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $7.74B | $7.08B | $5.94B | $6.63B | $11.2B |
| Revenue growth | — | +19% | -10% | -41% | — |
| Gross profit | $3.54B | $2.73B | $2.06B | $2.65B | $5.89B |
| EBITDA | $4.10B | $3.31B | $2.67B | $3.23B | $6.44B |
| Net income | $2.10B | $1.46B | $1.22B | $1.52B | $3.35B |
| Free cash flow | $1.91B | $1.80B | $1.75B | $1.03B | $3.41B |
| Capital expenditure | $1.07B | $951M | $519M | $1.72B | $462M |
| Total debt | $3.61B | $3.64B | $3.25B | $3.23B | $3.23B |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CF Industries CF | $18.1B | +4% | +20% | 41% | 9.8× | -11.8% |
| Nutrien NTR.TO | $34.3B | +8% | +8% | 14% | 13.2× | 4.1% |
| Yara International YAR.OL | $11.0B | -26% | +2% | 13% | 8.2× | -6.9% |
| Oci OCI.AS | $967M | +8% | -81% | -4% | n/a | n/a |
| CVR Partners, LP UAN | $1.16B | -13% | +7% | 21% | 7.4× | -10.5% |
| LSB Industries LXU | $763M | -24% | +13% | 11% | 13.7× | -0.8% |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | CF | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | +5.1% | -1.5% | 3rd highest of 9 |
| 6-month return | +4.2% | -18.0% | 3rd highest of 9 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -15.7% | -31.4% | 3rd highest of 9 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +20.0% | +9.1% | 3rd highest of 9 |
| Operating margin | 41.5% | 13.2% | 2nd highest of 9 |
| Forward P/E | 9.8× | 13.2× | 2nd cheapest of 8 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | -11.8% | 3.5% | least demanding of 6 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +11.4% | +6.0% | highest of 6 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -23.2 pp | -3.8 pp | least demanding of 6 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | +13.1 pp | -1.4 pp | 2nd highest of 9 |
| EV / EBITDA | 5.5× | 7.1× | 2nd cheapest of 7 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | 0.3× | 1.9× | least indebted of 8 |
| Bond spread | 103 bp | 141 bp | 2nd tightest of 5 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| CF Industries CF | United States | $18.1B | +4% | +20% | 41% | 9.8× | -11.8% | +11.4% |
| Qinghai Salt Lake Industry 000792.SZ | China | $17.8B | -41% | +48% | 57% | 9.9× | -2.7% | +2.0% |
| Yara International YAR.OL | Norway | $11.0B | -26% | +2% | 13% | 8.2× | -6.9% | +8.3% |
| Nutrien NTR.TO | Canada | $34.3B | +8% | +8% | 14% | 13.2× | 4.1% | +6.0% |
| Mosaic Company (The) MOS | United States | $7.11B | +2% | 0% | 3% | 26.2× | n/a | n/a |
| ICL ICL | United States | $6.04B | -27% | +11% | 11% | 11.5× | 3.5% | +7.2% |
| Fertilizers & Chemicals Travancore FACT.NS | India | $5.14B | -18% | +32% | 0% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| UPL UPL.NS | India | $4.78B | -18% | +10% | 14% | 14.8× | 10.9% | +6.0% |
| Dyno Nobel DNL.AX | Australia | $4.64B | +6% | -17% | 15% | 21.1× | n/a | n/a |
CF Industries has 4 bonds outstanding with $3.25B face value. The agencies rate it BBB; its bonds trade like BBB+. Weighted yield 5.98%, a spread of 103 bp over government bonds.
CF Industries reported $1.30B of remaining performance obligations at 30 Sep 2026, down 43% from a year earlier and down 13% from the previous quarter. That is 0.2 years of trailing revenue already under contract. Book-to-bill last quarter: 0.89.