Monsanto profit more than doubles
Strong sales of herbicide and soybean seeds in the Americas boost quarterly income to $556M; world's biggest seed company raises outlook.
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (Reuters) -- Monsanto Co. the world's biggest seed company, said on Wednesday that quarterly profit more than doubled, citing strong herbicide and soybean seed sales in the United States and Latin America.
The company also increased its full-year earnings per share forecast to a range of $4.40 to $4.50 excluding items, from its previous forecast of $4.20 to $4.40.
St. Louis-based Monsanto (MON, Fortune 500), a leader in the development of genetically altered crops, said net income rose to $556 million, or $1 a share, for the first quarter that ended Nov. 30, up from $256 million, or 46 cents a share, a year earlier. Excluding items, the company earned 98 cents a share.
Analysts on average were looking for 59 cents a share before special items, but it was not immediately clear what that figure measured.
Morningstar analyst Ben Johnson said the results were surprisingly strong, particularly in light of market talk that farmers were cutting back in certain areas due to economic concerns.
"Monsanto seems to have bucked what has been a negative trend," Johnson said.
Monsanto shares rose 8.2% to $79.52 before Wednesday's opening bell.
Monsanto Chairman Hugh Grant said strength in Latin American sales helped spur the company to raise its outlook. It recently launched new corn seed products in Brazil and Argentina.
The company said it was anticipating strong U.S. corn seed sales this year, including a 17% to 21% jump in planted U.S. acreage.
Soybean sales jumped 31% from a year earlier, and vegetable seeds' net sales grew by 21%, thanks largely to acquisition in June of Netherlands-based De Ruiter Seeds, Monsanto said. 
