Mission Produce stock falls as it misses adjusted profit expectations

Investing.com -- Avocado producer Mission Produce Inc (NASDAQ:AVO) shares fell after-hours after hitting a 52-week low earlier on Monday, and it missed profit expectations.

The company reported third quarter adjusted earnings per share of 15 cents and revenue down 16.5% to 261.4 million. Analysts expected adjusted earnings of 22 cents a share on revenue of $241.9 million.

Shares fell more than 2% in after-hours trading. They are down 22% this year.

The company said the revenue drop from the same time last year was driven by a continuation of a normalizing environment where higher industry volumes are being more than offset by lower pricing from elevated levels in the prior year.

CEO Steve Barnard said top-line results were consistent with expectations. “While we achieved continued sequential improvement in per-unit margins relative to the fiscal second quarter, the industry experienced an abrupt change in growing conditions midway through the quarter that negatively impacted anticipated volumes across the Peruvian growing region,” Barnard added. 

“Industry pricing has since responded to these events and moved higher, which we expect to help lessen the impact on our fiscal fourth quarter margins,” he said.

For the fourth quarter, Mission said industry volumes are expected to be flat to slightly lower versus the prior year because of reduced supply from Peru. Pricing is expected to be flat to slightly higher on a sequential basis, and higher on a year-over-year basis by approximately 10%.