Monsanto expects earnings at high end of expected range

ST. LOUIS -- Monsanto Co.'s full-year earnings for fiscal 2006 will be at the upper end of its previously stated range of $2.35 per share to $2.50 per share, the St. Louis-based biotech company said Wednesday. Still, Monsanto's stock fell nearly 4 percent.

Robb Fraley, executive vice president and chief technology officer for Monsanto, will confirm the earnings this week when he addresses investors in London, the company said in a news release.

Monsanto also continues to expect earnings-per-share in the range of $2.82 to $3.00 for fiscal 2007. The company makes top-selling Roundup herbicide, crop seeds and a variety of biotech products.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial projected fiscal 2006 earnings of $2.61 per share, and fiscal 2007 earnings of $3.19 per share. The company's stock declined $3.43, or 3.98 percent, to $82.67 in trading in New York.

At the conference on Friday, Fraley is expected to discuss advancements being made to increase the value of Monsanto's plant breeding program.

Among those advancements is molecular breeding, which applies analytical tools like computer databases and molecular markers to improve predictability and efficiency of plant breeding. The company said molecular breeding can double the rate of what it called "genetic gain" -- the improvement in characteristics such as yield and environmental stress.

"We are poised to make market share gains in the U.S. corn seed market for the fifth consecutive year, and those gains have been made with the tools on the front edge of our molecular breeding capability," Fraley said.