Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM) stock identified change of -0.70% away from 52-week low price and recently located move of -47.89% off 52-week high price. It has market worth of $6732.08M and dividend yield of 7.71%. SQM stock has been recorded -14.01% away from 50 day moving average and -31.28% away from 200 day moving average. Moving closer, we can see that shares have been trading -8.98% off 20-day moving average.
On Aug.21, 2019, Sociedad Química y Minera de Chile S.A. (NYSE:SQM; Santiago Stock Exchange: SQM-B, SQM-A) disclosed earnings for the six months ended June 30, 2019 of US$150.7 million (US$0.57 per share), a decrease from US$247.7 million (US$0.94 per share), representing a 39.1% decrease compared to the earnings reported for the six months ended June 30, 2018. Gross profit reached US$288.0 million (28.8% of revenues) for the six months ended June 30, 2019, lower than US$417.1 million (36.0% of revenues) recorded for the six months ended June 30, 2018. Revenues totaled US$998.4 million for the six months ended June 30, 2019, representing a decrease of 13.7% compared to US$1,157.4 million reported for the six months ended June 30, 2018.
The Company also announced earnings for the second quarter of 2019, reporting net income of US$70.2 million(US$0.27 per share) compared to US$133.9 million (US$0.51 per share) for the second quarter 2018. Gross profit for the second quarter 2019 reached US$142.5 million; lower than the US$224.4 million recorded for the second quarter 2018. Revenues totaled US$494.1 million, a decrease of approximately 22.6% compared to the second quarter 2018, when revenues amounted to US$638.7 million.
SQM’s Chief Executive Officer, Ricardo Ramos, stated: We reported earnings for the six months ended June 30, 2019 of US$150.7 million. The second quarter results were mainly impacted by lower lithium sale prices, partly compensated by higher lithium sales volumes, lower potassium chloride volumes, and the lack of solar salt sales during the second quarter. These factors were partially offset by higher iodine prices. We have seen lithium supply growing more than demand over the past few quarters, putting pressure on prices. We sold higher sales volumes in the second quarter and expect to sell higher volumes in the second half of the year as we prepare for a 30% to 40% increase in sales volumes next year, which will help us recover some of the market share lost in previous years.
We are expecting higher sales volumes in the potassium chloride business line this year than previously anticipated, reaching close to 600,000 metric tons, this implies significantly higher sales volumes during the second half of the year. Additionally, our sales volumes could grow in the future as we get back to the brine extraction levels that we had at the beginning of last year. We still expect the solar salt sales volumes this year of between 45,000 and 50,000 metric tons, while for the upcoming years these volumes should grow significantly as we will be supplying a major project in the Middle East that will require approximately 400,000 metric tons of product between 2020 and 2022.
Finally, he closed by saying,The margins in the iodine business line are becoming more attractive as prices are up almost 20% when compared to last year. We expect prices to continue on this upward trend as the market remains tight.
The Basic Materials sector company, Sociedad Quimica y Minera de Chile S.A. noticed change of -3.16% to $25.43 along volume of 1612580 shares in recent session compared to an average volume of 759.86K. The stock observed return of -3.45% in 5 days trading activity. The stock was at -17.41% over one month performance. SQM’s shares are at -22.21% for the quarter and driving a -42.78% return over the course of the past year and is now at -33.60% since this point in 2018. The average volatility for the week at 3.48% and for month was at 3.69%. There are 264.73M shares outstanding and 44.54M shares are floated in market. Right now the stock beta is 1.17.
Cheyenne Cox is a news report covering multiple Market and economy News. She is creative and highly professional writer. Cheyenne holds a degree in communication and journalism and has also a Diploma in digital marketing. She belongs to south Africa who has also lived in Europe and is currently based in the US.
