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Seed giant Monsanto Co. on Wednesday said it more than doubled its fiscal first-quarter profit even with the global economy in a funk and tumbling prices for corn, soybeans and other agricultural commodities.

The Creve Coeur-based company reported earnings for the three months ended Nov. 30 that easily surpassed Wall Street estimates and lifted its earnings forecast for the year. The bullish report sent shares to their biggest one-day gain since October.

Monsanto has pledged to double gross profits from 2007 to 2012 and said its first-quarter results are proof that it can stay on track to meet those goals despite an economic slump.

Chief Executive Hugh Grant said higher yields from the company’s biotech seeds continue to win favor with farmers, even in the face of weaker commodity prices, and deep discounts and giveaways offered by rivals.

"Even in these uncertain times, farmers buy the best," Grant said during a conference call with analysts and investors.

Monsanto’s net income increased to $556 million, or $1 a share, from $256 million, or 46 cents, in the same quarter a year ago. Sales rose 29 percent to $2.65 billion on higher sales of the company’s Roundup weed-killer and corn seeds.

Excluding discontinued operations, Monsanto earned 98 cents a share. That figure includes a tax gain of 8 cents a share and far exceeds the average estimate of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters, who expected earnings 59 cents a share on sales of $2.44 billion.

The strong first quarter numbers led Monsanto to raise its full-year earnings forecast to a range of $4.40 to $4.50 a share. The previous range had been $4.20 to $4.40.

"However you look at it, it’s a blowout quarter," said Mark Gulley, an analyst at New York-based Soleil Securities. "Who else is going to have blowout numbers in this economic environment?"

The first quarter mostly reflect the company’s business in Latin America, where the planting season and seed sales start earlier personal loans. Monsanto’s much larger U.S. seed business is typically reflected in the second and third quarters.

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The company said it continues to gain market share in Latin America, where regulators have become more accepting of biotech crops and farmers are increasingly shifting to seeds that deliver bigger yields.

Separately, Monsanto announced Wednesday during an annual review of its research and development initiatives that it has submitted an application to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval of drought-tolerant corn expected to hit the market in 2012.

Steve Padgette, the company’s biotechnology lead, said the first-of-its-kind corn, developed with Germany’s BASF AG, will give an edge to farmers in areas where water is scarce.

Monsanto said it’s also making advances on other new crop technologies, including SmartStax corn, which is designed to more effectively resist insects and weeds and will be introduced in 2010. New projects added to the company’s research pipeline include Roundup Ready sugarcane.

Bloomberg News contributed to this report.

jtomich@post-dispatch.com | 314-340-8320

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