NTR vs UAN: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. NTR and UAN share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined NTR and UAN exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Nutrien is a Canadian-headquartered agricultural giant formed from the 2018 merger of Potash Corp and Agrium, and it reports in U.S. dollars. The company runs four segments: Retail (Nutrien Ag Solutions), which distributes crop nutrients, crop protection, seed and services to farmers through a large network of stores across North America, South America and Australia, plus three upstream segments (Potash, Nitrogen and Phosphate) that mine and manufacture the fertilizers themselves. Nutrien is the largest potash producer in the world by capacity and one of the largest nitrogen producers, so its upstream results move directly with global fertilizer benchmarks, while Retail earns more stable margins from proprietary products and services.

Full NTR guide

CVR Partners, LP is a producer of nitrogen fertilizer, mainly ammonia and urea ammonium nitrate (UAN) solution, operating two plants: a petroleum coke gasification facility in Coffeyville, Kansas, and a natural-gas-based plant in East Dubuque, Illinois. It is structured as a master limited partnership, so investors buy common units and receive a Schedule K-1 for tax purposes rather than the 1099 a normal corporation issues. The partnership is affiliated with CVR Energy, and the Coffeyville plant sources petroleum coke from a nearby CVR refinery, which gives it a feedstock mix different from the natural-gas-driven cost base of most nitrogen producers. Because it sells a commodity into global agricultural markets, UAN is largely a price-taker: its results swing with ammonia and UAN prices, plant utilization, and input costs.

Full UAN guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• NTR drivers: Potash pricing and record volumes; Nitrogen leverage to natural gas.
• UAN drivers: Nitrogen fertilizer prices drive everything; Petroleum coke feedstock advantage.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: The dominant risk is commodity price cyclicality: potash, nitrogen and phosphate prices can fall sharply, and because upstream margins are highly operationally geared, consolidated earnings can drop far faster than revenue. For UAN, the dominant risk is commodity cyclicality: because revenue is tied to ammonia and UAN prices, a drop in fertilizer prices or grain demand can compress earnings and the distribution quickly, and the payout is explicitly variable rather than fixed.

Pick NTR if you believe its drivers more; UAN if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the NTR and UAN guides.

NTR. As of July 2026 NTR trades near $66 for a market cap of roughly $32 billion, at a trailing P/E around 16 and a forward P/E near 15.5, modest multiples typical of a cyclical commodity producer. Q1 2026 revenue was ~$6.0 billion (up ~19% year over year) with adjusted EBITDA of ~$1.11 billion, and the business is seasonal, with the spring planting quarter usually the strongest. Because so much of the profit is commodity-driven, valuation multiples on trailing earnings can look cheap near cycle peaks and expensive near troughs, so context on where fertilizer prices sit matters more than the headline P/E.

UAN. Figures are approximate, tied to the asOf date, and should be verified against the latest filings and quote before acting. UAN is a variable-distribution MLP, so quarterly distributions vary with cash flow and are not a reliable forward yield: a large payout in a strong quarter can fall sharply when fertilizer prices weaken or during turnaround periods. Standard earnings multiples are less meaningful for a small cyclical MLP than where nitrogen prices sit in the cycle and how much cash is available to distribute.

Headline figures (approximate, JULY 2026): NTR shows share price ~$66, market cap ~$32 billion, revenue (ttm) ~$28 billion, fy2025 net earnings ~$2.3 billion; UAN shows net sales (q1 2026) ~$180 million, up from ~$143 million a year earlier on higher realized prices (approximate; verify live), net income (q1 2026) ~$50 million, or roughly $4.72 per common unit (approximate), ebitda (q1 2026) ~$78 million, up from ~$53 million a year earlier (approximate), latest quarterly distribution $4.00 per common unit declared for Q1 2026 (~$42 million); as a variable-distribution MLP this amount changes every quarter with available cash.

NTR and UAN are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined NTR and UAN exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.