Monsanto sees lower 2010 earnings, stock slides

* Sees FY2010 non-GAAP $2.40 to $2.45 per share

* Analysts expect $2.49/shr -- Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S

* Stock drops more than 7 percent

(Adds analysts cutting targets, stock down more)

NEW YORK, (Reuters) - Monsanto Co, which has seen lower sales of its Roundup herbicides segment recently, gave a full-year 2010 earnings estimate Tuesday that fell below Wall Street expectations, sending its stock down more than 7 percent.

The world's biggest seed company also said it expects to record a restructuring charge of about $150 million in the fiscal fourth quarter and will reduce its workforce by a further 650-700 across the company.

Monsanto said it expects earnings for the fiscal year to be in the range of $2.40 to $2.45 per share -- at the lower end of its previous $2.40 to $2.60 estimate. A spokeswoman pointed to the restructuring charge for the modified estimate.

Analysts currently expect earnings of $2.49 per share, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S/.

In afternoon trading on the New York Stock Exchange, Monsanto stock was down 7.2 percent at $51.86.

Jefferies & Co analyst Laurence Alexander cut his stock price target for the company to $55 from $60 and Keith Carpenter of Canaccord Genuity dropped the target price by $1 to $56.

"This is quite disappointing," said analyst Michael Judd, of Greenwich Consultants. "Monsanto has always been a relatively expensive stock and you expect to see some growth, which we are not seeing.

"It's not so much the restructuring but these are difficult economic conditions," said Judd.

In June, Monsanto reported a 45 percent drop in fiscal third-quarter net income as its Roundup herbicide business continued to struggle.

Company officials, who called 2010 a "challenging year," said then that while there was a jump in seed sales, sales of Roundup and other glyphosate-based herbicides fell 56 percent.

Roundup was once a key profit-driver for Monsanto, and it has continued to generate sales even in the face of generic competition, in part because of Monsanto's development of "Roundup Ready" crops -- those genetically altered to tolerate treatments of the Roundup weed killer.

On Tuesday, Monsanto said it was seeing strong seed and trait (genetically modified seed) sales in Latin America and other international markets and it expected a "solid fourth-quarter performance" from its crop-protection business, plus realization of discrete tax benefits.

The company continues to expect free cash flow in the range of $400 million to $500 million for the fiscal year.

Monsanto has extended its restructuring program to cover an estimated $180 million to conclude its crop protection strategic alignment. About $150 million of the charge is expected to be recorded in the fourth quarter, it said.

The restructuring charge will affect earnings by about 22 cents per share and will be primarily reflected in fiscal year 2010 with the remaining charge in fiscal year 2011.

In a separate filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Monsanto said there would be an additional reduction in workforce of about 650 to 700 across the company. Spokeswoman Kelli Powers said that is about 3 percent of the company's 21,000 employees around the world.

Last September, Monsanto had reduced its workforce by about 8 percent, she said.

The total restructuring charge is expected to comprise about $90 million in severance and related benefits, $60 million in costs related to facility closures and $30 million of asset impairments.

(Reporting by Steve James; Editing by Dave Zimmerman, Bernard Orr)