Monday, April 18, 2011

Syngenta (SYT) Shares Soar on Rising Food Prices

The share price of (NYSE:SYT) Syngenta AG has been moving steadily upward since bottoming out in the summer of 2010, rebounding from lows of $42.93 to surge by over 60 percent to reach a 12-month high of $68.67 on Friday.

Pricing power is the key to the performance of Syngenta, as pricing resistance from farmers has dissipated for the overall agricultural industry as crop prices have soared.

Syngenta recently reported that its revenue for the first three months of 2011 climbed 13 percent to $4.02 billion from $3.53 billion last year in the same quarter, easily beating analysts estimates.

CEO Mike Mack stated, "With commodity prices at elevated levels, farmers across the world feel encouraged to invest in crops and seed protection."

Chief Financial Officer John Ramsay the company has been able to selectively raise prices by about 2 percent on some products during the quarter. "And prices are holding," concluded Ramsay.

Syngenta closed Friday at $68.31, gaining $0.89, or 1.32 percent.

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