By AP/St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis – St. Louis-based agriculture giant Monsanto lost less money in the fourth quarter this fiscal year than it did last year.
The company posted a 26-cent-per-share loss in the quarter that ended Aug. 31. That compares to 43 cents a share a year ago. Fourth quarter losses are typical for the company, which makes most of its money in the spring and summer when farmers are ordering seed.
Despite the quarter-over-quarter improvement, Monsanto's stock has dropped 40 percent since Jan. 1 as profit margins for its herbicide Round-Up shrink and regulators probe its soybean business. A CNBC article citing Thomson Reuters claims that the fourth quarter numbers, though an improvement from last year, were a bigger loss than Wall Street analysts expected.