Monsanto and Lennar: What to Expect From Earnings

Recently there were protests against the genetically modified organisms (GMOs), specifically those produced by Monsanto. The protests covered over 420 cities, 48 countries and six continents, by the company’s own reckoning.

Monsanto and its supporters argue that its products are critical to feed great numbers of people and when normal seeds or normal methods cannot be used to keep weeds away from crops, which might be right. The “March Against Monsanto” protestors do not care much about weeds, and maybe they shouldn’t, based on evidence that GMOs create massive harm to people. For the time being, protests have focused on one of Monsanto’s products: Roundup, which kills weeds.

Shares of Monsanto were down 1.1% to $113.04 Tuesday afternoon. The stock has a consensus analyst price target of $136.00 and a 52-week trading range of $105.76 to $128.79.

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Lennar Corp. (NYSE: LEN) is scheduled to report its fiscal second-quarter earnings Wednesday before the markets open. The consensus estimates expect $0.64 in EPS on $2.58 billion in revenue. Last year during the second quarter, the company had $0.61 in EPS on $1.82 billion in revenue.

Despite severe weather conditions that constrained production and sales in parts of the country, the housing market continued its slow and steady recovery in the first quarter. Earlier signals from this year’s spring selling season indicate that the housing market is improving, and disappointing single-family starts and permits numbers should rebound shortly. This could very well happen within this coming quarter.

As an offshoot of the constraint in the mortgage market, rental rates have continued to rise across the country, ultimately benefiting Lennar’s extensive pipeline of rental properties. Rental demand has continued to outpace “for sale” demand, and the company expects its maturing rental business to contribute to earnings later this year.

Lennar shares were down 1.4% to $48.79, in a 52-week range of $35.74 to $53.67. The consensus price target is $51.24.