More raw enthusiasm for raw materials

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Commodity-related stocks have been leading the way on Wall Street the last few days, as they have for much of the last 12 months. Some investors are returning to the sector after the profit-taking wave of the last few weeks, which had pulled the CRX index (20 commodity issues including U.S. Steel, Barrick Gold and Marathon Oil) from a record high of 906.95 on Feb. 28 to a recent low of 815.77 on March 20, a drop of 10%. The index jumped 2.2% to 863.47 today.

It’s helping, of course, that prices of many of the underlying commodities are swinging higher this week after last week’s slide.

A big winner on Tuesday: Monsanto, which surged almost 10%, to $114.54, and held on to that gain today. The company, a leading producer of seeds, herbicides and other agricultural products, raised its estimates for operating earnings in fiscal 2008 (ending in August) to a range of $3.15 to $3.25 a share, from previous guidance of $2.70 to $2.80. Monsanto cited strength in seed sales to farmers and higher sales worldwide of its herbicide Roundup.

Monsanto has been riding the global ag boom of this decade: The stock hasn’t had a down year since 2002, and is up almost 11-fold since the end of that year, when it closed at $9.63.