FMC Corporation, the Philadelphia-based crop-chemicals maker behind some of the world's best-known insecticides and herbicides, saw its stock collapse on Thursday after warning that third-quarter revenue would come in up to 93% below what it had told investors to expect just three months ago.

In a regulatory filing released before the opening bell, FMC said it now expects third-quarter revenue of only $65 million to $125 million, with adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization landing between a loss of $510 million and a loss of $565 million. As recently as late July, the company had guided Wall Street to expect revenue of $840 million to $900 million for the quarter, close to the $868 million analysts had modeled, according to Seeking Alpha.

Shares cratered as much as 43% in early trading before closing the session down roughly 30%, around $5.64, a fresh multi-decade low for the 140-year-old company and far beneath its already-battered 52-week range.

What went wrong

FMC said the gap is driven largely by roughly $625 million to $675 million in one-time charges tied to a sweeping overhaul of how it prices and sells its products. The company is cutting prices on select products sitting in distributor warehouses in Brazil, Argentina, the United States and Canada, and is scrapping its long-standing U.S. model of high list prices paired with large rebates in favor of pricing closer to what growers actually pay.

The company said distributors are carrying the lowest inventory levels it has seen, in part because older, higher-priced FMC products lost their competitive edge as patents on key diamide insecticides expired and cheaper generic rivals flooded the market.

"Third-quarter demand was weaker than we expected, driven by challenging market conditions. We have addressed this issue incrementally over several quarters, but under current market conditions, we determined that more comprehensive actions are necessary," said Pierre Brondeau, FMC's chairman, chief executive and president.

FMC also flagged that it is reviewing its intangible assets for a possible impairment charge tied to the lowered outlook, though it said it could not yet estimate the size of any write-down. The company said it expects to remain in compliance with its debt covenants as of September 30, but will hold talks with its bank group over the next year about further loosening those terms while it carries out the turnaround plan.

Thursday's rout was the latest blow for a stock that has been sliding for more than two years. FMC's shares lost roughly 55% of their value in October 2025 alone after a prior guidance miss tied to its India business, and management cut the quarterly dividend from 58 cents to 8 cents that same quarter. The company also trimmed its full-year 2026 outlook in late July, before Thursday's far deeper reset.

Analysts had already been bracing for a rough quarter. In the week before the warning, BMO Capital cut its FMC price target to $11 from $14 and UBS lowered its target to $10 from $12, both citing a bleak outlook for crop-protection chemical pricing broadly. Both targets, like the rest of Wall Street's, now sit far above where the stock settled after Thursday's collapse.

FMC said it will report full third-quarter results, including a complete 2026 outlook, after the market closes on October 29, with a conference call the following morning that is expected to include preliminary targets for 2027 and 2028 — a call investors will now watch closely for signs of whether Thursday's reset marks a bottom or another leg down for one of the agricultural industry's oldest chemical makers.