Thursday was a wild, somewhat confusing day for Corteva, as it completed the spinoff of its agricultural seed technology business, Vylor.
The confusion-and the creation of two stand-alone companies-has created an opportunity for investors, according to early Wall Street opinions.
Corteva stock appeared to drop 84% to $12.57 on Thursday. The stock really wasn't down that much. Instead, the company split in two. Vylor, the old DuPont Pioneer seed business, is now a stand-alone company. Vylor stock didn't trade ahead of the spin, however, making Thursday a little nerve-racking for Corteva investors.
The investors got one share of Vylor for every share of Corteva, which kept its crop protection business. Vylor stock closed at $68.26. So with Corteva at $12.57, the combined value was $80.83. Corteva investors made money on the day.
Now, Wall Street will start weighing in on both stocks and their updated businesses. So far, the Street thinks both are attractive.
"The market is valuing Corteva like a no-growth commodity chemical [company]," wrote Morgan Stanley analyst Vincent Andrews on Friday. "Proprietary R&D pipeline work suggests the opposite."
To be sure, some insecticides and herbicides are commodities, but Corteva invests in new formulations and products that can provide growth and margin stability. He rates shares Buy and has an $18 price target for the new stock, up almost 50% from recent levels.
His target values Corteva at about 18.5 times his 2027 estimated earnings per share of 97 cents. That's in line with the S&P 500 multiple.
As for Vylor, RBC analyst Arun Viswanathan launched coverage of the stock with a Buy rating and a $85 price target. The company is a "double-digit percent earnings per share compounder," wrote Viswanathan. Seeds these days have a lot of embedded genetic technology, providing pricing power and licensing opportunities.
His target implies Vylor should trade for 34 times his 2027 earnings per share estimate. He projects about 12% annual earnings per share growth between 2026 and 2028.
Vylor stock was up slightly at $67.81 in early trading on Friday, while the S&P 500 was up 0.9%. Corteva shares were up 0.2% at $12.59.