June 28 (Reuters) - Monsanto Co MON.N
* Monsanto Company (NYSE:MON) delivers solid third quarter as it looks to close out fiscal year 2017 with return to growth
* Q3 earnings per share $1.93 from continuing operations
* Q3 earnings per share $1.90
* Q3 sales $4.23 billion versus I/B/E/S view $4.17 billion
* Q3 earnings per share view $1.76 -- Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S
* Monsanto Co - Expects full-year 2017 EPS at high end of range of $4.09 to $4.55 on an as-reported basis
* Monsanto Co - Confirms EPS at high end of range of $4.50 to $4.90 on an ongoing basis for full-year 2017
* Monsanto Co - Qtrly total seeds and genomics sales $3,132 million versus $3,207 million
* Monsanto Co - Co simultaneously working with Bayer (DE:BAYGN) toward completion of pending merger by end of calendar year
* Monsanto Co - Seed and genomics segment gross profit is now expected to be up high-single digits in terms of percentage for year
* Monsanto Co - For agricultural productivity segment, gross profit is still expected to be in range of $850 to $950 million for 2017
* Says looking ahead to Q4, "company expects to receive benefit of about $70 million in non-core asset sale gains from strategic deals"
* Monsanto Co - For full year, company still expects earnings to translate to high end of range of $1.2 billion to $1.6 billion of free cash flow
* Monsanto - Remains on-track with target of $380 million in savings by end of FY across cost of goods and operating expenses, as compared to FY 2015 base
* Monsanto Co - Implementation of 2015 restructuring plan is expected to be completed by end of fiscal year 2018
* Monsanto - Total operating spend in 2017, excluding bayer deal related costs, restructuring charges, seen increasing mid-single digits, as a percent, for the year
* Monsanto- In soybeans,seen strong demand for latest technologies,with growth of about 30 percent in global gross profit now expected for fiscal year 2017
* Monsanto Co - Fiscal year 2017 guidance represents pretax restructuring charges of $0.03 to $0.04 a share
* FY2017 earnings per share view $4.89, revenue view $14.31 billion -- Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S Source text for Eikon: ID:nBw7Zb35ya Further company coverage: MON.N