Monsanto Company (MON) has carved a name for itself in the global agricultural chemicals’ industry. By conducting trade in terms of two major segments, the company tries to enhance the yield and quality of several commercial and non commercial agricultural crops such as cotton, soybean and corn.
However, the company’s trade is highly sensitive to market headwinds such as currency fluctuations and weather volatilities. Moreover, as the extent of industry competition increasing over time, investors have been eagerly awaiting for the company’s latest earnings report.
This is especially true given the recent earnings estimate revisions for MON, as the consensus estimate has moved down in the last few months. In the last four trailing quarters, MON has reported a positive average earnings surprise of 7.06%, missing the estimate twice.
Currently, MON has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold), but that could definitely change after the release of its upcoming earnings report. We have highlighted some of the key stats from this just-revealed announcement below:
Earnings: Monsanto’s adjusted earnings in second-quarter fiscal 2015 came in at $2.90 per share. The earnings were below the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $2.96 per share.
Revenue: Monsanto posted revenues of $5197.0 million, 9.7% lower than the Zacks Consensus Estimate of $5,758 million.
Key Stats to Note: Considering industry headwinds such as lower corn production in U.S. and appreciation of U.S. currency, Monsanto has lowered its earnings per share (EPS) guidance for fiscal 2015. The company anticipates that its EPS for fiscal 2015 would lie in the lower end of $5.75-$6.00 range. The guidance is revised after considering $0.35-$0.40 amount of currency headwind impact that would exist due to depreciation of other currencies with respect to U.S. dollar. Irrespective of such issues, the company believes in doubling its EPS growth by 2019 end and aims to enhance margins by strategically lowering operating expenses in the near future.
Stock Price: Shares prices of MON decreased by 0.8% on a pre-market trading basis.
Check back our full write up on this MON earnings report later!
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