Piper Jaffray Raising Price Target On Monsanto (MON)

Piper Jaffray is raising its price target on shares of Monsanto Company MON to $81 from $75, and is keeping its Overweight rating. In a note sent to clients, Piper Jaffray writes, "We are lifting our price target to $81 ahead of MON's fiscal 1Q results on Thursday. In the seasonally slow 1Q, we expect the company to be modestly profitable, but more importantly we expect the company to speak positively about Fall orders & the Spring planting outlook in the U.S. as well as the season currently underway in Latin America. In particular, we believe the RoundUp Ready 2 soybeans could surprise to the upside. Fertilizer giant Mosiac kicked off ag sector earnings with strong results and the stock was indicated higher in after hours trading, pointing to a continuation of the sector's 2H10 outperformance." Shares of MON gained 21 cents yesterday to close at $69.07.