Bunge Limited Earnings: Tops Profit Estimate as Revenue Ticks Higher

Bunge Limited (NYSE:BG) reported its results for the second quarter. Bunge is a global agribusiness and food company, operating in the farm-to-consumer food chain. It conducts its operations in three divisions: agribusiness, fertilizer, and food and ingredients.

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Bunge Limited Earnings Cheat Sheet

Results: Net income for the agriculture/products fell to $274 million ($1.78 per share) vs. $316 million ($2.02 per share) a year earlier. This is a decline of 13.3% from the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue: Rose 4.2% to $15.09 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: Bunge Limited beat the mean analyst estimate of $1.41 per share. It fell short of the average revenue estimate of $15.79 billion.

Quoting Management: Alberto Weisser, Bunge’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “Bunge’s Agribusiness operations performed well in a volatile environment, but Sugar & Bioenergy, which was impacted by adverse weather conditions, and Food & Ingredients delivered lower than expected earnings. Looking ahead, we expect a strong second half of 2012.”

Key Stats:

Revenue has increased for four quarters in a row. Revenue increased 10.3% to $13.45 billion in the first quarter. The figure rose 29.2% in the fourth quarter of the last fiscal year from the year earlier and climbed 33.9% in the third quarter of the last fiscal year from the year-ago quarter.

The company topped expectations last quarter after falling short of forecasts in the first quarter with net income of 69 cents versus a mean estimate of net income of $1.16 per share.

Net income has dropped 41.1% year-over-year on average across the last five quarters. Performance was hurt by an 82.2% decline in the second quarter of the last fiscal year from the year-earlier quarter.

Looking Forward: Analysts appear increasingly optimistic about the company’s results for the next quarter. The average estimate for the third quarter has moved up from $2.13 a share to $2.19 over the last ninety days. At $6.53 per share, the average estimate for the fiscal year has fallen from $6.77 ninety days ago.

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(Company fundamentals provided by Xignite Financials. Earnings estimates provided by Zacks)

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