Shares of agricultural fertilizer producer Intrepid Potash (NYSE: IPI) fell 14.8% through 11:35 a.m. ET on Thursday after reporting a much smaller profit than expected in its fiscal Q1 2023 -- despite sales falling off much less than expected.

Heading into Q1 2023, analysts had forecast that Intrepid Potash would earn $0.67 per share, adjusted for one-time items, on sales of only $67.9 million. As it turned out, Intrepid Potash beat that sales estimate easily, reporting $86.9 million in revenue -- but its profits disappointed regardless, coming in at just $0.37 per share, non-GAAP.  Actual earnings as calculated according to generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) were a bit worse than the non-GAAP figure -- $0.35 per share.

Plummeting prices for potash and other fertilizers lay behind Intrepid Potash's 17% year-over-year decline in revenue, as potash that fetched $703 a ton a year ago fell 31% to sell for just $485 a ton (on average) in Q1 2023. The price of Intrepid Potash's Trio product -- composed of the mineral langbeinite, and containing low-chloride potassium, magnesium, and sulfur fertilizers -- declined 27% to $344 per ton.  

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Source Fool.com