Ingredion Earnings: Despite Lower Volumes to Start the Year, We See End of Inventory Destocking

Ingredion reported slightly lower first-quarter results versus the prior-year quarter. Volumes declined roughly 2%, excluding the South Korea divestiture, driven by continued customer inventory destocking. Despite the slow start to the year, we expect the company will generate improving sequential results as inventory destocking runs its course and is largely complete by the end of the second quarter. With our outlook largely unchanged, we maintain our $120 per share fair value estimate. Our narrow moat rating is also unchanged.