SaxoTV

Just what is Monsanto up to?

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June 24, 2014 agricultural, agricultural commodities, agriculture, agriculture sector, american, bio tech, bio technology, biotech, cash, cash flow, company, company stocks, corn, corn drops, corn price, corn prices, corn production, corn supply, corporate, corporation tax, deal, deals, europe, european, firms, market, market price, monsanto, peter garnry, petergarnry, pharma, pharmaceutical, pharmaceuticals, s and p, saxo bank, saxo tv, saxotv, share price, shares, shares 2014, shares down, shares europe, shares prices, switzerland, syngenta, tax, tax policy, tax proposals, taxes, tradingfloor.com, united states, us, valuation, valuations, world
It’s been revealed that talks between US agricultural giant Monsanto and its rival Syngenta have broken down. Although the world’s largest seed company doesn’t need the Swiss firm, the deal would have allowed it to move its tax location to Switzerland.
Saxo’s Peter Garnry says this is another example of US firms, such as pharmaceuticals, trying to avoid corporate taxes by moving their headquarters to Europe. He points out that an American company is unable to repatriate its cash flow into the US without paying a high tax rate.
Although Monsanto is a successful company in its own right, Garnry says that earlier this year it was under performing in the S&P 500. Although the company has come back up, he believes its valuation is 30 percent above the market price. With falling corn prices (the current corn crop has dropped 14 percent in 5 weeks), the demand for Monsanto’s seeds will be reduced. This, he believes, will impact results in the short term although he still thinks it’s a good long term bet.