Archer Daniels Midland canceled a Tuesday morning earnings call, lowered its earnings guidance for the year and said it will amend its fiscal 2023 10-K and 10-Qs for Q1 and Q2 2024, noting that the restated filings will include “corrections of newly identified errors” related to intersegment sales, according to a Monday company release.

The restatement follows “ongoing dialogue” between ADM and Securities and Exchange Commission staff, the Chicago-based global grain trader said, adding that they are not expected to result in any “material impact” on the company’s consolidated statements of earnings, consolidated balance sheets and consolidated statements of cash flow for the periods.

Accounting woes have rocked the company and its financial leadership since January when it announced an internal accounting probe and suspended its then CFO Vikram Luthar. In March, the company disclosed a remediation plan to address a “material weakness” in its internal control over financial reporting related to its account practices and procedures involving intersegment reporting. By July, ADM signaled a push toward a fresh start as it looked outside the company tosnap up industrial product maker 3M’s CFO Monish Patolawala to replace Luthar, whose resignation was announced in April.

Morningstar Strategist Seth Goldstein said he viewed the latest restatement as a continuation of the same issue related to how the company accounts for intersegment sales, which led to a previous round of restatements that will have “little impact” on the company’s outlook. While it’s unclear what prompted the discovery of the new errors, Goldstein said the new finance chief is too new to be tarnished by the revelation, noting that the development could stem from Patolawala having wanted to do a thorough review of the financial statements to make sure the company won’t have to restate any more reports in the future.   

Still, investors were rattled by ADM’s news: the company’s shares fell about 6% to close at $51.99 on Tuesday. Restatements are a “red flag” that typically push down stock and the ditched call was also another driver behind the stock’s decline Tuesday, Goldstein said. But he asserted it also likely reflected investors’ downward revisions of the company’s valuation based on new earnings guidance contained in the release.

“Having to cancel an earnings call never looks good, especially when you cancel the night before so it’s understandable that you see the market reaction,” Goldstein said. “At the same time I think continued weakness and rapidly declining profit in the ag services and oil seeds business is driving a lot of the stock decline as well.”  

In 2022, the Russia-Ukraine war helped boost the market for crops such as corn and soybean, aiding companies like ADM because farmers were more willing to accept lower prices to close deals and corporate crop trading desks benefited from the volatility, Goldstein said. But this year the market has moderated to more “normal” midcycle conditions, he said. Prices paid to soybean and corn growers in July plummeted, leaving producers bracing for a record drop in income, CFO Dive’s sister publication Agriculture Dive reported. 

The company reported unaudited adjusted net earnings of $530 million for Q3 ended Sept. 30, compared to $880 million in the year-earlier period, according to what it called its “preliminary” results. It also lowered its previously provided earnings per share guidance for the full year, with ADM now expected adjusted earnings per share in the range of $4.50 to $5 for 2024. 

“While Carbohydrate Solutions achieved strong results, our Ag Services and Oilseeds and Nutrition businesses delivered results below expectations, impacted by softer than expected market conditions and the pace of our planned improvement efforts. We are taking the necessary actions to improve performance and drive continued value creation,” ADM CEO Juan Luciano said in a statement in the release, adding that the “integrity” of its internal controls and financial reporting are very important and noting that the company is committed to continuing to strengthen its internal controls.

ADM declined to comment.