The Gory Details on Monsanto's Double Miss

Seth Jayson, The Motley Fool
Updated

Monsanto (NYS: MON) reported earnings on Oct. 3. Here are the numbers you need to know.

The 10-second takeaway
 For the quarter ended Aug. 31 (Q4), Monsanto missed estimates on revenues and missed expectations on earnings per share.

Compared to the prior-year quarter, revenue shrank and GAAP loss per share grew.


Margins contracted across the board.

Revenue details
 Monsanto notched revenue of $2.11 billion. The 13 analysts polled by S&P Capital IQ expected to see net sales of $2.23 billion on the same basis. GAAP reported sales were 6.1% lower than the prior-year quarter's $2.25 billion.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Dollar amounts in millions. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

EPS details
 EPS came in at -$0.45. The 18 earnings estimates compiled by S&P Capital IQ predicted -$0.43 per share. GAAP EPS were -$0.43 for Q4 versus -$0.21 per share for the prior-year quarter.

Source: S&P Capital IQ. Quarterly periods. Non-GAAP figures may vary to maintain comparability with estimates.

Margin details
 For the quarter, gross margin was 41.8%, 150 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Operating margin was -12.6%, 910 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter. Net margin was -10.9%, 590 basis points worse than the prior-year quarter.

Looking ahead
 Next quarter's average estimate for revenue is $2.63 billion. On the bottom line, the average EPS estimate is $0.35.

Next year's average estimate for revenue is $14.54 billion. The average EPS estimate is $4.37.

Investor sentiment
 The stock has a four-star rating (out of five) at Motley Fool CAPS, with 2,851 members out of 2,980 rating the stock outperform, and 129 members rating it underperform. Among 572 CAPS All-Star picks (recommendations by the highest-ranked CAPS members), 547 give Monsanto a green thumbs-up, and 25 give it a red thumbs-down.

Of Wall Street recommendations tracked by S&P Capital IQ, the average opinion on Monsanto is outperform, with an average price target of $93.89.

The article The Gory Details on Monsanto's Double Miss originally appeared on Fool.com.

Seth Jayson had no position in any company mentioned here at the time of publication. You can view his stock holdings here. He is co-advisor ofMotley Fool Hidden Gems, which provides new small-cap ideas every month, backed by a real-money portfolio. The Motley Fool has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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