Monsanto Earnings: Loss Widens on Lower Revenues

S&P 500 (NYSE:SPY) component Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) reported its results for the fourth quarter. Monsanto manufactures agricultural products.

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Monsanto Company Earnings Cheat Sheet

Results: Loss widened to $229 million (44 cents per diluted share) from $112 million (loss of 21 cents per share) in the same quarter a year earlier.

Revenue: Fell 6.1% to $2.11 billion from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: Monsanto Company fell in line with the mean analyst estimate of a loss of 44 cents per share. It fell short of the average revenue estimate of $4 billion.

Quoting Management: “We’ve proven our business on a global stage with back-to-back years of tremendous performance and momentum,” said Hugh Grant, chairman and chief executive officer for Monsanto. “With more waves of innovation and global opportunities than ever before, I’m confident that by building off what we accomplished in 2012 we can achieve steady growth in fiscal year 2013 as we continue to deliver sustainable yield to our farmer customers.”

Key Stats:

The company met estimates last quarter after toppling them in the two previous quarters. In the third quarter, it topped the mark by 4 cents, and in the second quarter, it was ahead by 16 cents.

Looking Forward: Over the last 30 days, analysts have not been optimistic about the company’s next-quarter performance. The average estimate for the first quarter of the next fiscal year is now 32 cents per share, down from 33 cents. For the fiscal year, the average estimate has moved up from $3.56 a share to $3.71 over the last sixty days.

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

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