Replies to post #11802 on The Rising Influence of Rising Affluence

[DewDiligence]

MON shares flattish on offsetting pushes—slightly lowered FY2016 EPS guidance (bad) and increased cost-cutting (good):

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/monsanto-slash-1-000-more-145337325.html

Monsanto Co plans to slash another 1,000 jobs worldwide, bringing total planned cuts to 3,600, or about 16 percent of its global workforce… The job cuts are part of a broader, previously announced plan to target $500 million in annual savings by the end of fiscal year 2018.

…The additional staffing cuts, along with site closures and contract terminations is expected to increase a restructuring charge to a range of approximately $1.1 billion to $1.2 billion, from $850 million to $900 million [the prior guidance]… Of that, $493 million occurred in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2015 and $318 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2016… The remainder of the restructuring charge is expected in fiscal years 2016 through 2018.

The updated non-GAAP EPS guidance for FY2016 (which excludes the above restructuring charges) is the “low end” of the $5.10-5.60 range issued in Oct 2015 (#msg-117537579).

[jbog]

I remember my grandfather using the phrase 'You can't make a silk purse out of a Sow's ear" many times.

I guess he never read a Monsanto financial press release.

[DewDiligence]

China approves MON’s RoundupReady2Xtend soybeans for importation, clearing the way for commercial launch of the product in the US and Canada for the 2016 growing season:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/farmers-gain-access-monsanto-roundup-130000171.html

‘RR2X’ soybeans had already been approved for commercialization by the USDA, EPA, FDA, and the corresponding regulators in Canada.

[DewDiligence]

MON licenses CRISPR-Cpf1 IP from Broad Institute:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/monsanto-announces-global-genome-editing-173000786.html

Monsanto Company announced today that it has reached a new global licensing agreement with the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard for the use of the novel CRISPR-Cpf1 genome-editing technology in agriculture.

The CRISPR-Cpf1 system represents an exciting advance in genome-editing technology, because it has potential to be a simpler and more precise tool for making targeted improvements in a cell's DNA when compared to the CRISPR-Cas9 system.

…Some of these benefits include greater flexibility in the method used to edit and in the locations where edits may occur. In addition, the smaller size of the CRISPR-Cpf1 system provides researchers with more flexibility to use the genome-editing technology across multiple crops.

Just in time for MON’s R&D update tomorrow (concurrent with FY1Q17 results). Financial terms were not disclosed.