Monsanto misses estimates on declining corn sales

Agrochemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation Monsanto (MON) missed Wall Street profit forecast for its second quarter, while reporting a 6.6% growth in earnings, attributed mainly to newest soybean technologies, lower taxes and improved glyphosate pricing. Profit grew to $1.45 billion or $3.27 per share from the year ago profit of $1.36 billion or $3.09 per share. On an ongoing basis, EPS was $3.22, up 0.9% year-over-year.

Sales of the agricultural products company fell marginally by 1%, impacted by declining volumes and prices of its corn products, along with lower planted acerages. Monsanto reported revenue of $5.01 billion compared to $5.07 billion a year earlier. Shares of Monsanto increased slightly when the market opened today.