Monsanto Beats on Earnings

Shares of Monsanto MON rallied in the pre-market on Tuesday, gaining about 3.50 percent, after the company reported earnings for the first quarter. Monsanto reported earnings per share of $0.62, more than the $0.36 analysts had anticipated. Sales came in at 2.94 billion, more than the 2.64 billion consensus estimate. Monsanto guided fiscal-year EPS to come in between $4.30 and $4.40 per share. The company had previously said to expect a range of $4.18-4.32, while analysts were expecting $4.40 per share. The company offered guidance on its free cash flow, saying to expect it in the range of $1.8-2 billion; it had previously seen $1.7-1.8 billion. In terms of net cash from operations, Monsanto guided $2.9-3.3 billion, more than the $2.8-3.1 billion it had previously stated. For a larger company, Monsanto has been a solid performer over the last six months, rallying roughly 25 percent since early August.