Topic: How To Invest

Hi Pat: What do think about Monsanto for a long-term holding? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Monsanto Co., $70.69, symbol MON on New York (Shares outstanding: 535.1 million; Market cap: $37.8 billion; www.monsanto.com), is a multinational company that sells technology-based agricultural products, such as genetically modified seeds, to farmers, grain processors and food companies. Monsanto has two business segments. Its Seeds and Genomics division, which provides 73% of the company’s sales, makes genetically modified seeds for corn, soybeans and other crops. These seeds are more resistant to insects and bad weather than other seeds, so they produce higher crop yields. Monsanto gets the remaining 27% of its sales from its Agricultural Productivity division, which makes herbicides for farmers under the Roundup brand. This division also makes lawn and garden herbicides for consumers. In the fiscal year ended August 31, 2011, Monsanto earned $1.6 billion, or $2.96 a share, on sales of $11.8 billion. The company did not provide comparative fiscal year figures. That’s because it has to revise its fiscal 2009 and 2010 financial statements to correct…