PotashCorp recently saw a drop in stock prices, leaving many questioning its correlation to the company’s merger with Agrium Inc.

Last week, stocks fell by as much as 5 percent, and analysts downgraded Potash stocks from “buy” to “outperform.” The “outperform” category means a stock is performing better than stocks within its industry, and the “buy” category is essentially a higher endorsement of a stock.

PotashCorp stocks closed at their lowest this month on Tuesday at $15.94, but have since rebounded slightly to close at $16.32 Thursday night, according to data from the New York Stock Exchange.

News of the potential merger with Agrium broke Aug. 30 and was officially confirmed Sept. 12, followed by the 5-percent drop as of Sept. 14.

Both PotashCorp and Agrium are based in Canada, and their merging is expected to push the new fertilizer company to a $36 billion value, according to a press release.

Despite the appearance of the market’s sour response to the merger, one official with knowledge of the situation, who requested not to be identified, said there’s more to it.

“People are assuming from that and concluding that the market doesn’t like the (merger), and what not,” the official said. “They’re also ignoring the fact that the market has pulled back.”

PotashCorp’s stock prices were also already declining the previous week — days after new of the potential merger leaked Aug. 30 and days before it was confirmed.

Along with PotashCorp’s slight improvement, Agrium’s stock prices are rebounding from a monthly low of $88.38 on Sept. 14 to closing at $92.61 Thursday night, NYSE data showed.

The official said it is not unusual for the stock market to react to big news such as the merger, but it doesn’t spell disaster for the decision to merge.

The official said, in his opinion, the changes in stock prices have a low correlation to the merger and the uptick in both companies’ stocks is a representation of that.