Monsanto Q4 Loss Narrows, Sees Higher Earnings In 2017

(RTTNews) - Agricultural products giant Monsanto Co. (MON) on Wednesday reported a loss for the fourth quarter that narrowed from last year, reflecting higher revenues, fewer one-time charges and lower operating expenses. Looking ahead, the company forecast higher ongoing earnings for fiscal 2017 compared to the previous year.

The St. Louis, Missouri-based seed and agro-chemical company's net loss for the fourth quarter was $191 million or $0.44 per share, narrower than loss of $495 million or $1.06 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Excluding special items, earnings per share were $0.07 per share on an ongoing basis, compared to loss per share of $0.19 in the year-ago period.

Net sales for the quarter rose 8 percent to $2.56 billion from $2.36 billion in the same quarter last year, but missed analysts' consensus estimate of $2.62 billion.

Segment wise, seeds and genomics revenues rose 26 percent to $1.57 billion. Corn seeds and traits sales, accounting for 51 percent of the segment sales, grew 33 percent.

In the Agricultural Productivity segment, net sales declined 10 percent from last year to $997 million.

Monsanto's gross margin for the quarter rose to 44 percent from 42 percent in the year-ago period. Operating expenses declined 10 percent from last year to $1.40 billion.

Looking ahead to fiscal 2017, Monsanto forecast reported earnings of $3.83 to $4.35 per share and ongoing earnings of $4.50 to $4.90 per share. This compares to ongoing earnings of $4.48 per share in fiscal 2016.

Monsanto also said that initial steps are underway to close on its acquisition by German conglomerate Bayer AG (BAYZF.PK, BAYRY.PK, BYR.L). In mid-September, Bayer said it agreed to buy Monsanto for $128 per share in an all-cash transaction.

MON closed Tuesday's trading at $102.15. In Wednesday's pre-market activity, the stock is down $0.30 or 0.29 percent to $101.85.