Monsanto Misses Q2 Views

reported weaker-than-expected results for the fiscal second quarter on Wednesday. The St. Louis, Missouri-based company posted quarterly net earnings of $1.43 billion, or $2.92 per share, compared to $1.67 billion, or $3.15 per share, in the year-ago period. Excluding discontinued operations, the company's ongoing earnings came in at $2.90 per share. Its sales slipped to $5.2 billion from $5.83 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $2.93 per share on revenue of $5.58 billion. Sales for the company's Seeds and Genomics segment were $4.2 billion in the second quarter. Sales for the Agricultural Productivity segment were around $2.3 billion in the first half of fiscal 2015. Selling, general and administrative costs came in at $647 million for the quarter, while R&D expenses came in at $372 million for the same quarter. "The key milestones we achieved in the first half of fiscal year 2015 are a cornerstone to the long-term growth drivers needed to propel us to our target to more than double ongoing earnings per share by 2019," said Hugh Grant, chairman and chief executive officer for Monsanto. "As we move into the second half of the year, we remain focused on our long-term growth drivers, with disciplined near-term execution and focus on our customers." The company expects fiscal-year 2015 ongoing earnings to be in the low end of its earlier-issued outlook of $5.75 to $6.00 per share. The average estimate among 24 Estimize users was for earnings of $2.95 per share and revenue of $5.76 billion for the fiscal second quarter. Monsanto shares fell 0.74% to $111.71 in pre-market trading.