FMC Corporation

What does it do?

FMC makes the chemicals that farmers spray on their crops to kill insects, weeds, and fungal diseases. Think of it as the company behind the products that stop bugs from eating a corn field or weeds from choking a soybean crop. Their products are sold to farmers across more than 100 countries, from Brazil to India to the US. Without companies like FMC, large-scale farming as we know it simply wouldn't work.

How does it make money?

FMC makes almost all of its money selling crop protection chemicals — insecticides, herbicides, and fungicides — directly to distributors and farm supply retailers who then sell to farmers. In its best year it generated $4.2B in revenue, but that fell to $3.5B as customers worked through stockpiles they had over-ordered during the post-COVID supply chain panic. FMC is also building a smaller but faster-growing biologicals business, which uses naturally derived compounds rather than synthetic chemicals, though this is still a minor part of sales today.

Why do investors care?

The core bull case is simple: the inventory hangover that crushed FMC's sales is temporary, and as global farm chemical stockpiles normalise, orders should recover toward historical levels. FMC trades at a tiny $1B market cap despite having $3.5B in revenue — meaning you are paying very little for each dollar the business generates, if it returns to profitability. The company is also betting on biologicals and newer chemistries that face less regulatory pressure than older pesticides. For this to work, crop commodity prices need to stay high enough that farmers keep spending on protection products.