RE:Any news? Pointing to “the latest dramatic surge in global crop prices and associated channel checks that suggest this environment is already translating into accelerating equipment spending,” Raymond James analyst Steve Hansen raised his rating for Ag Growth International Inc. (
) to “strong buy” from “market perform.”
“The upside surge in prices over the past two months (China import demand, Latam weather/supply concerns) has pushed key benchmarks to their highest levels in 5+ years,” he said. “Following several years of trade uncertainty, lackluster pricing, and relatively skinny margins, we expect this momentous shift will quickly usher in a robust new cycle of farm spending on grain handling and storage equipment (AGI’s core products). We also believe this environment will accelerate the adoption of AGI’s newly branded SureTrack technology platform (crop planning, bin monitoring, etc.) an underappreciated business with significant organic upside, in our view.”