Monsanto Confirms View; Stock Spikes

ST. LOUIS (TheStreet) -- Monsanto(MON Quote) issued a press release Tuesday that, for the most part, recycled old news.

Using the occasion of its twice-annual investor conference at its headquarters in St. Louis, Monsanto "reconfirmed" its previously stated profit guidance for 2010.

In fairness, there was one new tidbit: The company's coincidentally named chief executive, Hugh Grant, told investors at the meeting that Monsanto would expand and quicken the already-planned launch of several new products in U.S. and Latin America markets, including corn seeds designed for insect and weed resistance, and soybean seeds designed to be supercharged for high yields.

Market players, for their part, used the occasion to drive shares of Monsanto up by more than 5%, or $3.66, to $73.66 in hectic trading Tuesday. Volume reached 18.8 million shares, almost triple the daily average turnover in the name.

Still, at least one analyst covering Monsanto reacted with a yawn. "Obviously people are feeling more comfortable about the management guidance -- I suppose," said Michael Judd, of Greenwich Consultants. But, he added, "I don't really think there's a whole lot here to get super-excited about."