Exhaustive list of reasons why stock went up recently:
1) Strong Celebrex sales; possibility of new studies coming out soon regarding GI benefit, pain efficacy, and possible anti- colon cancer effect.
2) Ouster of EU commission. Old commission was anti-US, according to the Washington Post. Therefore, it's possible that the anti-US trade policies went out the door with them, including the negative agricultural (GM food) ones. Since the GM food issue in Europe has been a major factor holding down Monsanto's stock price, there is at least some hope that things may improve.
(related supporting detail, from BBC)
The Washington Post says the 20 have "played a central role in the EU's ambitious drive to become a global rival to the United States," but were forced to resign for "tolerating widespread fraud, corruption, and mismanagement over a period of years."
3) Al Greenspan's speech, and reference to Monsanto's technology as being crucial (see my earlier posting):
a. Al gives implied endorsement of Monsanto ...and a credible one at that!
b. Al mentions data point linking 80% of farm price drop to Asian crisis. Since Asia is coming back, and Monsanto has been hurt by this, outlook is better going forward.
4) Brazil, a Monsanto customer, also appears to be on the comeback trail.
5) DuPont's explicit (and further implied) endorsement of bioag technology. If there were a chance of awful hidden dangers in bioag products, DuPont would certainly know this by now, since this tech has been out for years under DuPont's control. In other words, it appears to some they were holding off making a full commitment here, until they were sure about putting many billions of dollars to work.
6) Monsanto is somewhat of a hedge against increased inflation, and may benefit somewhat if prices go up on commodities. This may be the case as Asia recovers.
7) Rumors of buyout from Abbott, and Pfizer.
8) From tape action, apparent large buyer of shares. |
