Potash Corp. (NYSE:POT) Will be Driven by Crop Prices in 2011

Strong crop price should continue on through 2011, and as crop prices go so should fertilizer demand go, and that ends up working strongly for Potash Corp. (NYSE:POT) and other fertilizer companies.

Barclays says, "With a strong correlation between crop price movement and fertilizer equity performance, it is no secret that fertilizer stocks began trending higher in mid-2010 as crop price forecasts started to gradually increase. With crop fundamentals continuing to strengthen on increasing demand and critically low ending inventories, there is no sign of crop price weakness in the short term. In our opinion, until we see crop prices begin to stagnate or even retreat by way of weakening crop fundamentals (either through demand destruction or supply improvements), we expect fertilizer equities to continue to perform well in 2011."

Barclays maintains an 'Overweight' rating on Potash Corp. (POT), which closed Friday at $174.16, up $0.02, or 0.01 percent. Barclays raised their price target on Potash from $165 to $198. Full year 2011 EPS estimate was boosted from $8.15 to $9.03.