Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) reported first-quarter fiscal 2015 results before markets opened Wednesday. The fertilizer and seed maker reported adjusted diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.50 on revenue of $2.87 billion. In the same period a year ago, Monsanto reported EPS of $0.69 on revenue of $3.14 billion. First-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for EPS of $0.35 and $2.8 billion in revenue.

Monsanto reaffirmed its fiscal year 2015 EPS guidance of $5.75 to $6.00. The company also reaffirmed its previous forecasts for free cash flow of $2.0 billion to $2.2 billion and net cash from operating activities in the range of $3.2 billion to $3.6 billion.

The company now expects second-quarter earnings to be down 5% to 10% year-over-year, based both on Monsanto’s better-than-expected first-quarter performance and what the company now sees as a decline in the number of U.S. corn acres planted. Annual earnings growth will come in the third and fourth quarters the company said. Monsanto expects the fourth quarter to be break-even to positive year-over-year.

The current consensus EPS estimate for the second quarter is $3.19, compared with $3.15 a year ago. Taking Monsanto’s new guidance, we should expect second-quarter earnings of around $2.84 to $2.99 a share. The current consensus full-year estimate for 2015 is $5.89.

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The company’s CEO said:

The near-term headwinds in agriculture persist, but our ability to deliver new solutions to help farmers improve yields while efficiently using resources provides the opportunity to deliver growth in both the current environment and over the longer-term.

Both of the company’s major divisions posted lower revenues and lower gross profits than a year ago. The secret to the per-share uptick could be the fiscal year 2014 stock buybacks. The company reported just over 489 million fully diluted shares outstanding at the end of the first quarter, compared with nearly 533 million at the end of the first quarter of 2014. Last year’s share buybacks added about $0.05 per share to first-quarter EPS.

Monsanto’s shares traded up about 0.5% in the premarket Wednesday, at $117.30 in a 52-week range of $104.08 to $128.79. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $133.00 before the report.

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