Takeover Targets (at The Wall Street Journal Online)

Record crop plantings have helped double the price of urea, the world's main nitrogen fertilizer, in just three months. That has done fine things for companies that make the stuff. Companies that must buy urea, however, have seen profits and stock prices crimped. Shares of Scotts Miracle-Gro, the world's largest seller of branded lawn and garden products, gained 170% from 2000 to the start of 2007, but have since lost more than 60%. Urea's rise has worsened Scott's decline, but isn't the sole cause of it. Plunging house prices, swelling foreclosures and a consumer shift to cheaper brands have slowed demand for premium soil, mulch, bug spray and weed killer. A cold, wet March delayed purchases and sent sales 4% lower in the company's most-recent quarter from a year earlier. A recall of a combination plant food and weed... [read full story]