Industrials

What to Expect From Monsanto Earnings

Chris Lange

Published: June 28, 2016 3:20 pm

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 6:16 am

Monsanto Co. (NYSE: MON) is set to report fiscal third-quarter financial results before the markets open on Wednesday. The consensus estimates from Thomson Reuters are calling for $2.40 in earnings per share (EPS) on $4.49 billion in revenue. The same period from last year had $2.39 in EPS on $4.58 billion in revenue.

Before the Brexit vote took place the biggest concern for U.S. crops was, as is often the case, the weather. However, the fallout seen across the broad markets from this vote did end up pushing the stock lower along with practically everything else.

As recently as May, Monsanto declined an offer from Bayer AG to be acquired for the grand sum of $62 billion. However, this was not necessarily a final offer and Monsanto did mention that it would be open to further discussions with the German firm.

At that time, the company said the $122 per share bid undervalues the company and that it is not confident either in Bayer’s ability to finance a deal of this size or of Bayer’s ability to weave its way through the coming regulatory roadblocks.

A few analysts weighed in on Monsanto prior to the release of the earnings report:

• Goldman Sachs has a Sell rating with a $92 price target
• Argus reiterated a Buy rating with a $128 price target
• Piper Jaffray reiterated an Overweight rating with a $127 price target
• Deutsche Bank reiterated a Buy rating with a $100 price target
• Sanford Bernstein reiterated a Sell rating
• Atlantic Securities has a Neutral rating with a $105 price target
• JPMorgan reiterated a Neutral rating

So far in 2016, Monsanto has performed more or less in line with the broad markets with the stock up about 3%. Over the past 52-weeks the stock is actually down about 3%.

Shares of Monsanto were last trading up 1.1% at $101.08, with a consensus analyst price target of $107.00 and a 52-week trading range of $81.22 to $114.26.