Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

MON and The Global Demographic Tailwind
(see #msg-65129229 for related info):

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424053111904050904576444330493139772.html

Corn seed is running away the company's most important product (year-to-date 43% of total revenue -- and we'd bet close to two-thirds of total operating income), and the world can't raise enough corn to feed the tens of millions of people in Asia each year achieving income levels that allow them permanently to shift from starch to protein diets, which require corn to grow the necessary hogs, chickens, etc.

…the future for corn, on a worldwide basis, is unbelievable. “…there are some 45,000 items in the average American supermarket and more than a quarter of them contain corn... corn is in the coffee whitener and Cheez Whiz, the frozen yogurt and TV dinner, the canned fruits and ketchup and candies, the soups and snacks and cake mixes, the frosting and gravy and frozen waffles, the syrups and hot sauces, the dressings and relishes and even the vitamins...even the nonfood items as well: everything from the toothpaste and cosmetics to the disposable diapers, trash bags, cleansers, charcoal briquettes, matches and batteries” [not to mention the ethanol in gasoline].

…Just 400 million new Asian customers behaving like us Americans could consume the entire U.S. corn crop.

…Monsanto will benefit directly and mightily. Given inevitably rising prices, more acres will be planted to corn around the world, more seeds of corn will be sown per acre, and farmers will willingly pay a premium to obtain seeds they feel will boost their yields. Which is why we're so bullish on Monsanto.

Boenning & Scattergood, author of the above, just upgraded MON to Overweight. You have to wonder why they didn’t do it when MON was trading in the 40’s a year ago.