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Category: The Andersons (ANDE)
Date: 17 February 2021 Stock price of The Andersons (ANDE) : $26.57 We take a more detailed look at The Andersons Inc (ANDE) a diversified company rooted in agriculture. The Company's operations are classified into four reportable business segments: Trade, Ethanol, Plant Nutrient, and Rail.
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The Company's Rail Group leases, repairs, and sells various types of railcars, locomotives and barges. In addition, the Rail Group offers fleet management services to private railcar owners. The Company has a diversified fleet of car types (boxcars, gondolas, covered and open top hopper cars, tank cars and pressure differential cars), locomotives and barges serving a broad customer base "
More About The Andersons (ANDE)
The Andersons, Inc. (the "Company") is a diversified company rooted in agriculture. Founded in Maumee, Ohio in 1947, the Company conducts business across North America in the trade, ethanol, plant nutrient and rail sectors. The Company's operations are classified into four reportable business segments: Trade, Ethanol, Plant Nutrient, and Rail. Each of these segments is organized based upon the nature of products and services offered
Business Segments Of The Andersons
Trade Group
The Trade Group (formerly the Grain Group), through the completion of the Lansing Trade Group ("LTG") acquisition in the current year, has evolved into a diversified business focusing on logistics and merchandising across a wide range of commodities. The group specializes in the movement of physical commodities such as whole grains, grain products, feed ingredients, frac sand, domestic fuel products, and other agricultural commodities. The business also operates grain elevators across the U.S. and Canada where income is earned on commodities bought and sold through the elevator, commodities that are purchased and conditioned for resale, and commodities that are held in inventory until a future period, earning space income. Space income consists of appreciation or depreciation in the basis value of commodities held and represents the difference between the cash price of a commodity in one of the Company's facilities and an exchange traded futures price (“basis”); appreciation or depreciation between the future exchange contract months (“spread”); and commodities stored for others upon which storage fees are earned. The Trade Group business also offers a number of unique grain marketing, risk management and corn origination services to its customers and affiliated ethanol facilities for which it collects fees. Sales are negotiated by the Company's merchandising staff as commodity prices are not predetermined. As previously mentioned the Trade group has diversified the physical commodities that are sold, however, the principal commodities sold by the Company are corn, wheat and soybeans which are consistent with the prior year. Approximately 72% of commodity sales by the Company in 2019 were purchased by U.S. grain processors and feeders, and approximately 28% were exported. Most of the Company's exported commodity sales are made through intermediaries while some commodities are shipped directly to foreign countries, mainly Canada. The Company ships grain from its facilities by rail, truck, or boat. Rail shipments are made primarily to grain processors and feeders with some rail shipments made to exporters on the Gulf of Mexico or east coast. Boat shipments are from the Port of Toledo or the Port of Houston. In addition, commodities are transported via truck for direct ship transactions in which producers sell grain to the Company, but delivered directly to the end user.
The Company's trade operations rely principally on forward purchase contracts with producers, dealers and commercial elevators to ensure an adequate supply of commodities to the Company's facilities throughout the year. The Company makes commodity purchases at prices referenced to regulated commodity exchanges. The Company competes in the sale of commodities with other public and private grain brokers, elevator operators and farmer owned cooperative elevators. Some of the Company's competitors are also its customers. Competition is based primarily on price, service and reliability. Because the Company generally buys in smaller lots, its competition for the purchase of grain is generally local or regional in scope, although there are some large national and international companies that maintain regional grain purchase and storage facilities. Significant portions of grain bushels purchased and sold are made using forward contracts. The grain handling business is seasonal in nature in that the largest portion of the principal grains are harvested and delivered from the farm and commercial elevators typically in July for wheat and September through November for corn and beans, although a significant portion of the principal grains are bought, sold and handled throughout the year. 3 Fixed price purchase and sale commitments as well as commodities held in inventory expose the Company to risks related to adverse changes in market prices. Grain prices are typically comprised of two components, futures prices on regulated commodity exchanges and local basis adjustments. The Company manages the futures price risk by entering into exchange-traded futures and option contracts with regulated commodity exchanges. The contracts are economic hedges of price risk but are not designated or accounted for as hedging instruments. These regulated commodity exchanges maintain futures markets for the grains merchandised by the Company. Futures prices are determined by worldwide supply and demand.
The Company's grain risk management practices are designed to reduce the risk of changing commodity prices. In that regard, such practices also limit potential gains from further changes in market prices. The Company has policies that provide key controls over its risk management practices. These policies include a description of the objectives of the programs and review of daily position limits by key management outside of the trading function along with other internal controls. The Company monitors current market conditions and may expand or reduce the purchasing program in response to changes in those conditions. In addition, the Company monitors its counterparties on a regular basis for credit worthiness, defaults and non-delivery. Purchases of commodities can be made the day the product is delivered to a terminal or via a forward contract made prior to actual delivery. Sales of commodities generally are made by contract for delivery in a future period. When the Company purchases commodities at a fixed price or at a price where a component of the purchase price is fixed via reference to a futures price on a regulated commodity exchange, it also enters into an offsetting sale of a futures contract on the regulated commodity exchange. Similarly, when the Company sells commodities at a fixed price, the sale is offset with the purchase of a futures contract on the regulated commodity exchange. At the close of business each day, inventory and open purchase and sale contracts as well as open futures and option positions are marked-to-market. Gains and losses in the value of the Company's ownership positions due to changing market prices are netted with, and substantially offset in the statement of operations by, losses and gains in the value of the Company's futures positions. When a futures contract is entered into, an initial margin deposit must be sent to the regulated commodity exchange. The amount of the margin deposit is set by the regulated commodity exchange and varies by commodity. If the market price of a futures contract moves in a direction that is adverse to the Company's position, an additional margin deposit, called a maintenance margin, is required by regulated commodity exchanges. Subsequent price changes could require additional maintenance margin deposits or result in the return of maintenance margin deposits by the regulated commodity exchange. Significant increases in market prices, such as those that occur when grain supplies are affected by unfavorable weather conditions and/or when increases in demand occur, can have an effect on the Company's liquidity and, as a result, require it to maintain appropriate short-term lines of credit.
The Company may utilize regulated commodity exchange option contracts to limit its exposure to potential required margin deposits in the event of a rapidly rising market. The Company has a lease and marketing agreement with Cargill, Incorporated for Cargill's Maumee and Toledo, Ohio grain handling and storage facilities. As part of the agreement, Cargill holds certain marketing rights to grain in the Cargill-owned facilities as well as the adjacent Company-owned facilities in Maumee and Toledo. The marketing agreement contains a profit-sharing provision whereby cumulative earnings generated from the grain facilities are contractually shared. As of December 31, 2019, the lease of the Cargill-owned facilities covers approximately 4%, or 8.8 million bushels, of the Company's total storage space
Ethanol Group
The Ethanol Group produces, purchases and sells ethanol, offers facility operations, risk management, and ethanol and corn oil marketing services to the ethanol plants it invests in and operates. Through the first nine months of 2019 the Ethanol Group held ownership interests in three limited liability companies (“the ethanol LLCs” or “LLCs”), each of which owned an ethanol plant that was operated by the Company's Ethanol Group. On October 1, 2019, the Ethanol Group entered into an agreement to merge the LLCs and the Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, The Andersons Denison Ethanol LLC into a new legal entity, The Andersons Marathon Holdings LLC ("TAMH"). As a result of the merger, the Company and Marathon Petroleum Corporation ("Marathon") own 50.1% and 49.9% of TAMH equity, respectively. The transaction resulted in the consolidation of TAMH’s results in the Company's financial statements effective October 1, 2019. Prior to October 1, 2019 the results of the Ethanol LLCs were accounted for under the equity method of accounting. The four ethanol plants within TAMH are located in Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. These plants have a combined nameplate capacity of 405 million gallons of ethanol. The Company also owns 51% of ELEMENT, LLC ("ELEMENT") and ICM, Inc. ("ICM") owns the remaining 49% interest. In the current year ELEMENT completed the construction of a 70 million-gallon-per-year bio-refinery which began limited production in the third quarter of 2019. ICM operates the facility under a management contract and managed the initial construction of the facility, while the Company provides corn origination, ethanol marketing, and risk management services
The Trade Group (formerly the Grain Group), through the completion of the Lansing Trade Group ("LTG") acquisition in the current year, has evolved into a diversified business focusing on logistics and merchandising across a wide range of commodities. The group specializes in the movement of physical commodities such as whole grains, grain products, feed ingredients, frac sand, domestic fuel products, and other agricultural commodities. The business also operates grain elevators across the U.S. and Canada where income is earned on commodities bought and sold through the elevator, commodities that are purchased and conditioned for resale, and commodities that are held in inventory until a future period, earning space income. Space income consists of appreciation or depreciation in the basis value of commodities held and represents the difference between the cash price of a commodity in one of the Company's facilities and an exchange traded futures price (“basis”); appreciation or depreciation between the future exchange contract months (“spread”); and commodities stored for others upon which storage fees are earned. The Trade Group business also offers a number of unique grain marketing, risk management and corn origination services to its customers and affiliated ethanol facilities for which it collects fees. Sales are negotiated by the Company's merchandising staff as commodity prices are not predetermined. As previously mentioned the Trade group has diversified the physical commodities that are sold, however, the principal commodities sold by the Company are corn, wheat and soybeans which are consistent with the prior year. Approximately 72% of commodity sales by the Company in 2019 were purchased by U.S. grain processors and feeders, and approximately 28% were exported. Most of the Company's exported commodity sales are made through intermediaries while some commodities are shipped directly to foreign countries, mainly Canada. The Company ships grain from its facilities by rail, truck, or boat. Rail shipments are made primarily to grain processors and feeders with some rail shipments made to exporters on the Gulf of Mexico or east coast. Boat shipments are from the Port of Toledo or the Port of Houston. In addition, commodities are transported via truck for direct ship transactions in which producers sell grain to the Company, but delivered directly to the end user.
The Company's trade operations rely principally on forward purchase contracts with producers, dealers and commercial elevators to ensure an adequate supply of commodities to the Company's facilities throughout the year. The Company makes commodity purchases at prices referenced to regulated commodity exchanges. The Company competes in the sale of commodities with other public and private grain brokers, elevator operators and farmer owned cooperative elevators. Some of the Company's competitors are also its customers. Competition is based primarily on price, service and reliability. Because the Company generally buys in smaller lots, its competition for the purchase of grain is generally local or regional in scope, although there are some large national and international companies that maintain regional grain purchase and storage facilities. Significant portions of grain bushels purchased and sold are made using forward contracts. The grain handling business is seasonal in nature in that the largest portion of the principal grains are harvested and delivered from the farm and commercial elevators typically in July for wheat and September through November for corn and beans, although a significant portion of the principal grains are bought, sold and handled throughout the year. 3 Fixed price purchase and sale commitments as well as commodities held in inventory expose the Company to risks related to adverse changes in market prices. Grain prices are typically comprised of two components, futures prices on regulated commodity exchanges and local basis adjustments. The Company manages the futures price risk by entering into exchange-traded futures and option contracts with regulated commodity exchanges. The contracts are economic hedges of price risk but are not designated or accounted for as hedging instruments. These regulated commodity exchanges maintain futures markets for the grains merchandised by the Company. Futures prices are determined by worldwide supply and demand.
The Company's grain risk management practices are designed to reduce the risk of changing commodity prices. In that regard, such practices also limit potential gains from further changes in market prices. The Company has policies that provide key controls over its risk management practices. These policies include a description of the objectives of the programs and review of daily position limits by key management outside of the trading function along with other internal controls. The Company monitors current market conditions and may expand or reduce the purchasing program in response to changes in those conditions. In addition, the Company monitors its counterparties on a regular basis for credit worthiness, defaults and non-delivery. Purchases of commodities can be made the day the product is delivered to a terminal or via a forward contract made prior to actual delivery. Sales of commodities generally are made by contract for delivery in a future period. When the Company purchases commodities at a fixed price or at a price where a component of the purchase price is fixed via reference to a futures price on a regulated commodity exchange, it also enters into an offsetting sale of a futures contract on the regulated commodity exchange. Similarly, when the Company sells commodities at a fixed price, the sale is offset with the purchase of a futures contract on the regulated commodity exchange. At the close of business each day, inventory and open purchase and sale contracts as well as open futures and option positions are marked-to-market. Gains and losses in the value of the Company's ownership positions due to changing market prices are netted with, and substantially offset in the statement of operations by, losses and gains in the value of the Company's futures positions. When a futures contract is entered into, an initial margin deposit must be sent to the regulated commodity exchange. The amount of the margin deposit is set by the regulated commodity exchange and varies by commodity. If the market price of a futures contract moves in a direction that is adverse to the Company's position, an additional margin deposit, called a maintenance margin, is required by regulated commodity exchanges. Subsequent price changes could require additional maintenance margin deposits or result in the return of maintenance margin deposits by the regulated commodity exchange. Significant increases in market prices, such as those that occur when grain supplies are affected by unfavorable weather conditions and/or when increases in demand occur, can have an effect on the Company's liquidity and, as a result, require it to maintain appropriate short-term lines of credit.
The Company may utilize regulated commodity exchange option contracts to limit its exposure to potential required margin deposits in the event of a rapidly rising market. The Company has a lease and marketing agreement with Cargill, Incorporated for Cargill's Maumee and Toledo, Ohio grain handling and storage facilities. As part of the agreement, Cargill holds certain marketing rights to grain in the Cargill-owned facilities as well as the adjacent Company-owned facilities in Maumee and Toledo. The marketing agreement contains a profit-sharing provision whereby cumulative earnings generated from the grain facilities are contractually shared. As of December 31, 2019, the lease of the Cargill-owned facilities covers approximately 4%, or 8.8 million bushels, of the Company's total storage space
Ethanol Group
The Ethanol Group produces, purchases and sells ethanol, offers facility operations, risk management, and ethanol and corn oil marketing services to the ethanol plants it invests in and operates. Through the first nine months of 2019 the Ethanol Group held ownership interests in three limited liability companies (“the ethanol LLCs” or “LLCs”), each of which owned an ethanol plant that was operated by the Company's Ethanol Group. On October 1, 2019, the Ethanol Group entered into an agreement to merge the LLCs and the Company's wholly-owned subsidiary, The Andersons Denison Ethanol LLC into a new legal entity, The Andersons Marathon Holdings LLC ("TAMH"). As a result of the merger, the Company and Marathon Petroleum Corporation ("Marathon") own 50.1% and 49.9% of TAMH equity, respectively. The transaction resulted in the consolidation of TAMH’s results in the Company's financial statements effective October 1, 2019. Prior to October 1, 2019 the results of the Ethanol LLCs were accounted for under the equity method of accounting. The four ethanol plants within TAMH are located in Iowa, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio. These plants have a combined nameplate capacity of 405 million gallons of ethanol. The Company also owns 51% of ELEMENT, LLC ("ELEMENT") and ICM, Inc. ("ICM") owns the remaining 49% interest. In the current year ELEMENT completed the construction of a 70 million-gallon-per-year bio-refinery which began limited production in the third quarter of 2019. ICM operates the facility under a management contract and managed the initial construction of the facility, while the Company provides corn origination, ethanol marketing, and risk management services
Plant Nutrient Group
The Plant Nutrient Group is a leading manufacturer, distributor and retailer of agricultural and related plant nutrients, corncob-based products, and pelleted lime and gypsum products in the U.S. Corn Belt and Puerto Rico. The group provides warehousing, packaging and manufacturing services to basic nutrient producers and other distributors. The group also manufactures and distributes a variety of industrial products throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico including nitrogen reagents for air pollution control systems used in coal-fired power plants, and water treatment and dust abatement products. In its plant nutrient businesses, the Company competes with regional and local cooperatives, wholesalers and retailers, predominantly publicly owned manufacturers and privately-owned retailers, wholesalers and importers. Some of these competitors are also suppliers and have considerably larger resources than the Company. Competition in the nutrient business is based largely on depth of product offering, price, location and service. Sales and warehouse shipments of agricultural nutrients are heaviest in the spring and fall.
Rail Group
The Company's Rail Group leases, repairs, and sells various types of railcars, locomotives and barges. In addition, the Rail Group offers fleet management services to private railcar owners. The Company has a diversified fleet of car types (boxcars, gondolas, covered and open top hopper cars, tank cars and pressure differential cars), locomotives and barges serving a broad customer base. The Company operates in both the new and used car markets, allowing the Company to diversify its fleet both in terms of car types, industries and age of cars, as well as repairing and refurbishing used cars for specific markets and customers. A significant portion of the railcars, locomotives and barges managed by the Company are included on the balance sheet as long-lived assets. The others are either included as operating leases (with the Company leasing assets from financial intermediaries and leasing those same assets to the end-users) or nonrecourse arrangements (in which the Company is not subject to any lease arrangement related to the assets but provides management services to the owner of the assets). The Company generally holds purchase options on most assets owned by financial intermediaries. We are under contract to provide maintenance services for many of the Rail Group assets that we own or manage.
In the case of the Company's leased Rail Group assets, the Company's risk management philosophy is to match-fund the lease commitments where possible. Match-funding (in relation to lease transactions) means matching the terms of the financial intermediary funding arrangement with the lease terms of the customer in which the Company is both lessee and sublessor. If the Company is unable to match-fund, it will attempt to negotiate an early buyout provision within the funding arrangement to match the underlying customer lease. The Company does not attempt to match-fund lease commitments for Rail Group assets that are on its balance sheet. Competition for marketing and fleet maintenance services is based primarily on price, service ability, and access to both used equipment and third-party financing. Repair facility competition is based primarily on price, quality and location.
The Plant Nutrient Group is a leading manufacturer, distributor and retailer of agricultural and related plant nutrients, corncob-based products, and pelleted lime and gypsum products in the U.S. Corn Belt and Puerto Rico. The group provides warehousing, packaging and manufacturing services to basic nutrient producers and other distributors. The group also manufactures and distributes a variety of industrial products throughout the U.S. and Puerto Rico including nitrogen reagents for air pollution control systems used in coal-fired power plants, and water treatment and dust abatement products. In its plant nutrient businesses, the Company competes with regional and local cooperatives, wholesalers and retailers, predominantly publicly owned manufacturers and privately-owned retailers, wholesalers and importers. Some of these competitors are also suppliers and have considerably larger resources than the Company. Competition in the nutrient business is based largely on depth of product offering, price, location and service. Sales and warehouse shipments of agricultural nutrients are heaviest in the spring and fall.
- Wholesale Nutrients - The Wholesale Nutrients business manufactures, stores, and distributes dry and liquid agricultural nutrients, and pelleted lime and gypsum products annually. The major nutrient products sold by the business principally contain nitrogen, phosphate, potassium and sulfur. Product lines include primary nutrients which are typically bought and sold as commodities and specialty products which support more sustainable farming practices and command higher margins. The distribution and sales channels for both types of nutrients are shared within the Wholesale Nutrients business.
- Farm Centers - The Farm Centers offer a variety of essential crop nutrients, crop protection chemicals and seed products in addition to application and agronomic services to commercial and family farmers. Soil and tissue sampling along with global satellite assisted services provide for pinpointing crop or soil deficiencies and prescriptive agronomic advice is provided to farmers.
- Cob Products - Corncob-based products are manufactured for a variety of uses including laboratory animal bedding and private-label cat litter, as well as absorbents, blast cleaners, carriers and polishers. The products are distributed throughout the United States and Canada and into Europe and Asia. The principal sources for corncobs are seed corn producers.
- Lawn Products - Proprietary professional lawn care products are produced for the golf course and professional turf care markets, serving both U.S. and international customers. These products are sold both directly and through distributors to golf courses and lawn service applicators. The Company also performs contract manufacturing services to sell fertilizer and control products to various markets
Rail Group
The Company's Rail Group leases, repairs, and sells various types of railcars, locomotives and barges. In addition, the Rail Group offers fleet management services to private railcar owners. The Company has a diversified fleet of car types (boxcars, gondolas, covered and open top hopper cars, tank cars and pressure differential cars), locomotives and barges serving a broad customer base. The Company operates in both the new and used car markets, allowing the Company to diversify its fleet both in terms of car types, industries and age of cars, as well as repairing and refurbishing used cars for specific markets and customers. A significant portion of the railcars, locomotives and barges managed by the Company are included on the balance sheet as long-lived assets. The others are either included as operating leases (with the Company leasing assets from financial intermediaries and leasing those same assets to the end-users) or nonrecourse arrangements (in which the Company is not subject to any lease arrangement related to the assets but provides management services to the owner of the assets). The Company generally holds purchase options on most assets owned by financial intermediaries. We are under contract to provide maintenance services for many of the Rail Group assets that we own or manage.
In the case of the Company's leased Rail Group assets, the Company's risk management philosophy is to match-fund the lease commitments where possible. Match-funding (in relation to lease transactions) means matching the terms of the financial intermediary funding arrangement with the lease terms of the customer in which the Company is both lessee and sublessor. If the Company is unable to match-fund, it will attempt to negotiate an early buyout provision within the funding arrangement to match the underlying customer lease. The Company does not attempt to match-fund lease commitments for Rail Group assets that are on its balance sheet. Competition for marketing and fleet maintenance services is based primarily on price, service ability, and access to both used equipment and third-party financing. Repair facility competition is based primarily on price, quality and location.
Marketing Of The Andersons
The Company has a marketing agreement that covers certain of its grain facilities, some of which are leased from Cargill. Under the five-year amended and restated agreement (renewed in June 2018 and ending May 2023), any grain the Company sells to Cargill is at market price. Income earned from operating the facilities (including buying, storing and selling grain and providing grain marketing services to its producer customers) over a specified threshold is shared equally with Cargill. Measurement of this threshold is made on a cumulative basis and cash is paid to Cargill on an annual basis. The Company recognizes its pro rata share of this profit-sharing arrangement as a reduction of revenue in our Consolidated Statements of Operations every month and accrues for any payment owed to Cargill. The impact of the profit-sharing arrangement to the Company's revenues were de minimis, $0.2 million and $3.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively
Competition Of The Andersons
The markets for our products in each of our business segments are highly competitive. While we have substantial operations in our region, some of our competitors are significantly larger, compete in wider markets, have greater purchasing power, and have considerably larger financial resources. We also may enter into new markets where our brand is not recognized and in which we do not have an established customer base. Competitive pressures in all of our businesses could affect the price of, and customer demand for, our products, thereby negatively impacting our profit margins and resulting in a loss of market share.
Employees Of The Andersons
The Andersons offers a broad range of full-time and part-time career opportunities. Each position in the Company is important to its success, and the Company recognizes the worth and dignity of every individual. The Company strives to treat each person with respect and utilize his or her unique talents. At December 31, 2019, the Company had 2,247 full-time and 73 part-time or seasonal employees
The Andersons (ANDE) stock price chart over the last 5 years
The image below shows the stock price chart of The Andersons (ANDE) over the last 5 years. And its not been a good time for The Andersons stockholders. Over the last 5 years the stock of The Andersons decreased by -10.9%. No investor would want to see those kind of returns.
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