UPDATE: Monsanto Beats Q1 Expectations

Monsanto Company MON reported upbeat earnings for its first fiscal quarter. The St. Louis, Missouri-based company posted a quarterly net profit of $243 million, or $0.50 per share, versus a year-ago profit of $368 million, or $0.69 per share. Its adjusted earnings came in at $0.47 per share. Its sales slipped to $2.87 billion from $3.143 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.35 per share on revenue of $2.80 billion. Sales for Monsanto's Seeds and Genomics segment were $1.6 billion in the first quarter, while net sales for Monsanto's Agricultural Productivity segment were around $1.2 billion. Net cash provided by operating activities for the quarter was a source of $1.3 billion, versus a source of $1.7 billion in the year-ago quarter. Monsanto reaffirmed its FY15 forecast for earnings of $5.75 to $6.00 per share. The company also reaffirmed its free cash flow of $2 billion to $2.2 billion. “We made significant progress on key milestones in the first quarter that reinforce the confidence we have in delivering in fiscal year 2015 and over the multi-year horizon,” said Hugh Grant, chairman and chief executive officer for Monsanto. “The differentiator for our business remains our focus on continued innovation both in our core business and new platforms. The near-term headwinds in agriculture persist, but our ability to deliver new solutions to help farmers improve yields while efficiently using resources provides the opportunity to deliver growth in both the current environment and over the longer-term.” Monsanto shares rose 0.63% to $117.50 in pre-market trading.