In re FMC Corporation Securities Litigation

Labaton Keller Sucharow serves as Co-Lead Counsel in a securities class action against FMC Corporation (FMC or the Company) and certain of its officers (collectively, Defendants) alleging violations of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder.  

FMC is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based agricultural sciences company that develops, markets, and sells insecticides and other crop protection products to wholesale distributors and other customers located in North America, Latin America, Asia Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa.  The Company experienced record revenues during and following the COVID-19 pandemic, during which customers stockpiled product.  However, leading up to the Class Period, as the pandemic waned and restrictions were lifted, FMC’s channel distributors and customers held excess inventories that exceeded then-current demand, resulting in a revenue slowdown for the Company and an overstuffed channel.  Defendants are accused of making materially false or misleading statements and omissions about the success of the Company’s efforts to rebalance and normalize its channel inventory and achieve organic sales sufficient to foster sustainable growth.

On February 14, 2025, the Firm filed a securities class action lawsuit on behalf of the Macomb County Employees’ Retirement System and the Macomb County Retirement Health Care Fund (collectively, the Macomb County Funds) against FMC.  On May 14, 2025, the Court consolidated the two related actions and appointed Teamsters Local 710 Pension Fund and the Macomb County Funds as Lead Plaintiffs and Labaton Keller Sucharow as Co-Lead Counsel in the matter.  

On July 28, 2025, the Firm filed an Amended Class Action Complaint (Amended Complaint) on behalf of Lead Plaintiffs alleging that between November 16, 2023, and February 4, 2025, inclusive (the Initial Class Period).  The Amended Complaint alleges that on the first day of the Initial Class Period, FMC unveiled Project Focus, a “strategic restricting plan” intended to maximize operational efficiencies, right-size FMC’s cost base, and normalize FMC’s channel inventory levels.  The Amended Complaint further alleges that, throughout the Initial Class Period, Defendants failed to disclose that (1) the Company’s efforts to normalize channel inventory were not succeeding; (2) in reality, FMC was employing high-risk, manipulative sales tactics to meet remarkably unrealistic and unattainable sales targets, propping up short-term revenue and sales numbers at the expense of long-term growth; and (3) FMC was providing materially false and misleading risk disclosures.  The truth began to be revealed on February 4, 2025, when FMC reported that its Q4 2024 revenue missed consensus revenue estimates by $90 million.  On this news, FMC’s stock price dropped 33.5% per share on February 5, 2025.

On January 12, 2026, in response to disclosures made by the Company in October 2025, the Firm filed a Second Amended Class Action Complaint (Second Amended Complaint) on behalf of Lead Plaintiff Teamsters Local 710 Pension Fund and additional Plaintiffs Oakland County Voluntary Employees’ Beneficiary Association (Oakland County VEBA) and Oakland County Employees’ Retirement System (Oakland County ERS), which included additional allegations and expanded the Initial Class Period to between November 16, 2023, and October 29, 2025, inclusive (the Class Period).  

The Second Amended Complaint alleges that, in addition to the revelations detailed above, on April 30, 2025, in connection with its Q1 2025 financial results, FMC reported disappointing revenue, negative free cash flow, and negative cash from operations “due primarily to a smaller reduction in inventory levels as compared to the prior year period.”  As a result, the Company’s stock price declined 8.28%.  On July 30, 2025, FMC announced that it would divest its commercial business in India—its third-largest market—due to ongoing inventory issues despite prior assurances that inventory issues would be addressed on a country-by-country basis.  As a result, the Company stock price declined 5.54%.

Subsequently, the truth of Defendants’ deception was fully revealed on October 29, 2025, when FMC reported its Q3 2025 financial results, which featured, among other things, a shocking 49% decrease in revenue compared to Q3 2024, and the disclosure that the carrying value of the Company’s India business had been cut in half, alongside $510 million in charges and write-downs—of which $282 million reflected an adjustment related to Defendants’ manipulative Class Period sales practices.  As a result, the price of FMC stock collapsed to its lowest price since 2009, falling by 46.52% on unusually high trading volume of 45 million shares.

As a result of Defendants’ wrongful acts and omissions and significant declines in the market value of the Company’s common stock throughout the Class Period pursuant to the revelation of the fraud, Plaintiffs and other members of the Class have suffered significant damages.

The case is In re FMC Corporation Securities Litigation, No. 25-cv-00771 (E.D. Pa.).  Labaton Keller Sucharow serves as Co-Lead Counsel for the Class and represents Teamsters Local 710 Pension Fund, Oakland County VEBA, and Oakland County ERS.