By Christopher Hinton
NEW YORK (Dow Jones) -- Monsanto Co.'s second-quarter net income
fell 3.5% due to a decline in sales of its Roundup herbicide,
financial results showed Thursday.
Shares of the St. Louis-based supplier of herbicides and
genetically engineered seeds (MON) were virtually flat at $81.97
each. Still, the stock has lost more than 42% of its value since
hitting an all-time high last June at $145.80 each.
For the three months ended Feb. 28, Monsanto reported net income
fell to $1.09 billion, or $1.97 a share, from $1.13 billion, or
$2.02 a share, earned in the year-earlier second quarter.
Quarterly sales rose 8% to nearly $4.04 billion.
On an ongoing basis, Monsanto said second-quarter earnings
amounted to $2.16 a share. Analysts polled by FactSet Research had
been looking for a profit of $2.06 a share, on average.
"Versus our estimate, the beat was driven by higher than
expected profits in seeds & genomics, taxes, minority interest
and share count," said Laurence Alexander, an analyst with
Jefferies& Co.
Second-quarter profit at its agricultural productivity segment
fell 5.7% to $544 million as sales for Roundup and other
glyphosate-based herbicides declined 21%. In the prior-year
quarter, sales of Roundup surged ahead of a publicized price
increase, Monsanto said.
Quarterly profit generated the company's seeds and genomics
segment rose 21% to nearly $2 billion as sales climbed nearly 20%
to just over $3 billion.
For the full fiscal year, the company forecast earnings of $4.23
to $4.33 a share, or $4.40 to $4.50 a share on an ongoing basis.
Analysts' consensus for earnings in fiscal 2009 stands at $4.65 a
share, according to FactSet's survey of estimates.