5 Things Monsanto Management Wants You to Know

Image source: United Soybean Board/flickr.

Investors and Wall Street analysts love it when companies underpromise and overdeliver, which is exactly what agricultural tools supplier Monsanto accomplished for the first quarter ended November 30 for its fiscal year 2015. The company achieved higher than expected sales on stronger than expected soybean performance, which has anchored growth as its corn segment has faltered in recent quarters. Beating estimateswasn't easy to pull off, especially considering the challenging environment in currency markets, and significant headwinds remain for the year ahead. What should investors think about the progress? More importantly for long-term investors, will the obstacles affect the company's ambitious growth plans? Here are five things Monsanto management delivered in the company's first-quarter earnings conference call that it wants you to know.

Short-term headwinds won't stop growthThings aren't so great right now for companies supplying tools to the agricultural industry. Chairman and CEO Hugh Grant summed up the dismal state of affairs while reminding investors to take the long-term view:

The United States, historically the largest customer for advanced agriculturaltools, is coming off a record harvest for both corn and soybeans. That could lead to slower growth in the year ahead if stockpiles remain high and international markets don't open up to increased exports. Meanwhile, the American dollar is dominating global currency markets at the moment, which makes it costlier for multinational corporations to exchange foreign currencies. Expect some record currency adjustments in 2015 for most of your investments exposed to global markets, especially for South American-heavy Monsanto.

Corn-soybean rotations weigh on corn performanceLast year's record corn harvest also favors a trend that is quite unfavorable for Monsanto, as noted by CFO Pierre Courduroux:

Farmers are finding it advantageous to cycle between corn and soybeans. Market prices play an important role, but input costs are the primary factor. Studies have demonstrated that planting corn after a soybean harvest can reduce a farmer's nitrogen fertilizer demand by up to 20 pounds per acre, compared with planting corn year after year. (The fertilizer savings are owed to the ability of soybean residue to decompose more quickly, thus returning nutrients to the soil more quickly.)

Well, it's time to begin shuffling acres around again. American farmers planted about 83 million acres of corn for the 2014-2015 harvest, compared with 71 million acres of soybeans. Market prices, individual farm economics, and export trends may favor more soybean acreage for the 2015-2016 harvest.

But...Monsanto generates significantly more revenue from corn seeds and traits ($928 million in the last quarter) than soybean seeds and traits ($396 million in the last quarter), but recent growth has favored soybeans. Consider that Monsanto'scorn sales declined 12% from the year-ago period, while soybean sales increased 48% in the same period. Gross profit followed suit, falling 21% for corn and growing 65% for soybeans. Investors can expect that to continue in the near term -- and maybe the long term, too.Courduroux explains:

The company's latest soybean portfolio, Intacta Roundup Ready 2 PRO, is on pace to become a blockbuster. The varieties raced to a record 13 million global acres in just their second year on the market -- exceeding the high range of guidance of 10 million to 12 million acres. Monsanto is also ready to unleash its Roundup Ready Xtend soybean traits, which it expects to dominate most of the 200 million acres in North America and South America in much the same way its corn traits have dominated. Corn's outright reign over the company's income statement may be nearing an end.

The pipeline has grown beyond breeding and biotechnologyExpanding on that last point with a broader stroke, it appears that breeding and biotechnology (seeds and traits) efforts will soon be making way for more diverse tools and services. As CTO Rob Fraley pointed out:

Let's not get carried away here: Seeds and traits will remain Monsanto's core business and anchor. However, the company's pipeline now includes:

A promising microbial portfolio that seeks to coat seeds in beneficial soil microbes to boost yield.
The BioDirect portfolio of non-transgenic topicals for fighting pests (for crops and bees) and boosting yields.
A software platform bringing the Internet of Things to individual farmers.

The latter may be the youngest product in the pipeline,but it doesn't have to jump through all of the development hurdles to reach the market. So while microbials and BioDirect products progress through pipeline checkpoints in the next few years, the Climate Platform will be delivering profits to investors and adding new features in side-by-side fashion. Investors can thank its rapid product development timeline.

Climate Platform will develop more quickly than traditional productsAfter all, it is a software platform. That means it will be accompanied by a software product development timeline -- not a traditional biotechnology product development timeline -- that is much shorter than Monsanto's traditional products. It may seem obvious when you think about it, but it's a point Fraley took the time to explain to investors.

The Climate Platform will play a critical role in Monsanto's plans to grow annual gross profit by $4 billion, or 61%, by 2019.

Still on track to double EPS by 2019Monsanto will face headwinds in 2015, but it still expects to grow EPS to between $5.75 and $6.00 during the fiscal year. That would continue the incredible growth investors have enjoyed (EPS were just $2.39 in 2010), although the best is yet to come:

For the record, Monsanto expects to double EPS from its 2014 fiscal year, which means the company needs to grow EPS from $5.23 to $10.46 in just five years. Ambitious? Yes. Possible? Through a combination of core business growth, new product introductions, an innovative pipeline, and share repurchase programs -- yes.

The article 5 Things Monsanto Management Wants You to Know originally appeared on Fool.com.

Maxx Chatsko has no position in any stocks mentioned. Check out hispersonal portfolio,CAPS page, or previous writingfor The Motley Fool, and follow him on Twitter to keep up with developments in the synthetic biology field.The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't 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.