ICL (TASE: ICL: NYSE: ICL) (formerly Israel Chemicals) has become the most valuable company on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), leapfrogging NICE-Systems Ltd. (Nasdaq: NICE; TASE:NICE) and Bank Leumi (TASE:LUMI). The share price is 7.28% higher on the TASE today, catching up with its strong rises on Wall Street on T%hursday and Friday. ICL's share price closed up 4.26% on the NYSE on Friday at $11.50, giving a market cap of $14.8 billion, making it the third most valuable Israeli stock on Wall Street after Check Point Software Technologies (Nasdaq: CHKP) and SolarEdge Technologies (Nasdaq: SEDG).
ICL's share price is up 260% since mid-2020 and could be set for further gains as commodity prices continue to rise. In particular prices of potash, which represent 27% of ICL’s revenue, are set to rise further, due to the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine and sanctions to be imposed by the west on Belarus from April. Belarus government owned company Belaruskali provides 18% of the world’s potash consumption and the sanctions will create an opportunity for ICL, which has a less than 10% global market share, to capture a bigger market share.
The average price per ton that ICL received for potash in 2021, according to its financial reports was $337 per ton. Last week ICL signed a framework agreement to sell potash to China between 2022 and 2024 with the first order 700,000 metric tons priced at $590 per ton. But Bank of America analysts see potash’s current market price of $600 per ton rising to an all-time high of $1,000 per ton.
Published by Globes, Israel business news - en.globes.co.il - on March 6, 2022.
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