Topic: How To Invest

Pat: What do you think of Monsanto as a way to invest in the agriculture industry? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

Monsanto Co., $66.41, symbol MON on New York (Shares outstanding: 536.0 million; Market cap: $35.6 billion; www.monsanto.com), is a multinational company that sells technology-based agricultural products to farmers, grain processors and food companies. Monsanto has two business segments. Its Seeds and Genomics division, which provides 72% of the company’s sales, makes genetically modified seeds for corn, soybeans and other crops. These seeds produce higher crop yields than regular seeds, because they are more resistant to insects and bad weather. Monsanto gets the remaining 28% 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 residential customers. Monsanto’s long-term debt of $1.7 billion is a low 5% of its market cap. It holds cash of $1.9 billion, or $3.55 a share. That gives it plenty of flexibility to spend more on research (it now spends about 7% of sales on research), or buy other companies or assets…