Can Nutrien's Cost Savings Drive Sustained Future Momentum?

Nutrien Limited NTR posted a robust third-quarter 2025 performance, which clearly reflects the impact of its cost-saving initiatives. The reduction in costs, including selling, general and administrative (SG&A) expenses in the third quarter, contributed materially to higher profitability. This reduction demonstrates deliberate cost-discipline in SG&A, logistics and controllable operating costs. As a result, Nutrien converted more of its top-line gains into profitability. 

Cost Optimization Supports Nutrien’s Resilience

The impact of cost-saving was especially visible in the Retail segment. Retail adjusted EBITDA reached $230 million, rising 52% year over year. Nutrien explicitly linked this improvement to lower operating expenses achieved through cost-saving initiatives, combined with stronger margins on proprietary products. This indicates that cost-efficiency is enhancing downstream profitability even when market conditions are uneven across regions. In a quarter where fertilizer pricing and demand dynamics remained mixed, Nutrien’s ability to expand margins while holding costs down highlights the effectiveness of its expense-reduction programs. 

These cost savings strengthen Nutrien’s resilience in a cyclical industry. Management emphasized that cost-efficiencies directly contributed to higher retail adjusted EBITDA, which reached roughly $1.43 billion over the first nine months of 2025. Additionally, Nutrien has tightened capital spending, trimming capex by 10% to $1.3 billion in the first nine months compared with $1.4 billion in the prior-year period, showing that cost-saving supports both near-term flexibility and long-term capital allocation. 

NTR has accelerated operational efficiency and cost savings initiatives, and anticipates achieving around $200 million of total savings in 2025. The company is ahead of schedule on this cost-reduction goal. 

Among its peers, The Mosaic Company’s MOS focus on cost-saving played a central role in strengthening its third-quarter performance. Mosaic delivered meaningful efficiency gains, achieving approximately $150 million in realized cost savings as part of its broader $250 million cost-reduction program targeted for completion by 2026. These efforts helped lower potash cash production costs to $71 per ton from $75 in the previous quarter. Mosaic reported a sharp rise in profitability, with adjusted EBITDA increasing to $806 million from $448 million a year earlier and net income climbing more than threefold to $411 million. The sustained cost-control measures boosted margins, strengthened resilience against commodity price volatility and improved overall financial stability. 

Another fertilizer heavyweight, CF Industries Holdings, Inc. CF, saw higher natural gas costs and SG&A expenses in the third quarter. CF Industries’ average cost of natural gas increased to $2.96 per MMBtu (million metric British thermal unit) in the third quarter from $2.10 a year ago. The same for the first nine months increased to $3.34 per MMBtu from $2.38 in the year-ago period. CF Industries’ SG&A expenses climbed around 13% year over year in the quarter. 

The Zacks Rundown for NTR

Shares of NTR have popped 27.1% year to date compared with its industry’s 7.6% rise. 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

From a valuation perspective, NTR is currently trading at a forward 12-month earnings multiple of 12.45, a premium of about 2.4% to the industry’s average of 12.16X. 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for NTR for 2025 earnings is pegged at $4.54 and implies year-over-year growth of 31%. 

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

The consensus estimate for 2025 and 2026 has been trending higher over the past 60 days.  

Image Source: Zacks Investment Research

NTR currently carries a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 (Strong Buy) Rank here.

Free Report: Profiting from the 2nd Wave of AI Explosion

The next phase of the AI explosion is poised to create significant wealth for investors, especially those who get in early. It will add literally trillion of dollars to the economy and revolutionize nearly every part of our lives.

Investors who bought shares like Nvidia at the right time have had a shot at huge gains.

But the rocket ride in the "first wave" of AI stocks may soon come to an end. The sharp upward trajectory of these stocks will begin to level off, leaving exponential growth to a new wave of cutting-edge companies.

Zacks' AI Boom 2.0: The Second Wave report reveals 4 under-the-radar companies that may soon be shining stars of AI’s next leap forward.

Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report

This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).

Zacks Investment Research

Source Zacks-com