Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO) Receives Average Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Analysts give Mission Produce a “Moderate Buy” consensus, with two buy ratings, one strong-buy rating and two hold ratings. The average 12-month price target is $16.50, above the stock’s reported $12.81 opening price.
• Mission Produce beat quarterly expectations, reporting $0.18 in EPS versus a $0.12 estimate and $450 million in revenue, up 25.8% year over year. However, net margin remained very thin at 0.12%.
• The company authorized a $100 million share-repurchase program, while insiders bought about 2.85 million shares worth $36.8 million over the past 90 days, suggesting confidence in the stock’s valuation.

Shares of Mission Produce, Inc. (NASDAQ:AVO - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the five ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $16.50.

AVO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wall Street Zen raised Mission Produce from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Saturday. Roth Capital restated a "buy" rating and set a $17.00 target price on shares of Mission Produce in a research note on Thursday, September 10th. UBS Group set a $16.00 target price on shares of Mission Produce in a report on Wednesday, June 10th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "hold (c-)" rating on shares of Mission Produce in a research note on Friday, September 4th.

Mission Produce Stock Down 1.5%

AVO stock opened at $12.81 on Tuesday. Mission Produce has a fifty-two week low of $10.07 and a fifty-two week high of $15.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.52, a current ratio of 1.92 and a quick ratio of 1.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $12.95 and a 200-day moving average of $12.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 427.14 and a beta of 0.48.

Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, September 8th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.12 by $0.06. Mission Produce had a net margin of 0.12% and a return on equity of 5.91%. The company had revenue of $450.00 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $367.57 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 25.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Mission Produce will post 0.56 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Mission Produce announced that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock buyback program on Monday, June 8th that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the company to repurchase up to 13.8% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock buyback programs are usually a sign that the company's leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Insider Transactions at Mission Produce

In other news, Director Bruce C. Taylor purchased 70,283 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 23rd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $11.25 per share, with a total value of $790,683.75. Following the acquisition, the director owned 855,842 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,628,222.50. This trade represents a 8.95% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, major shareholder Holdings Venture Globalharvest purchased 592,957 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, July 9th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $13.28 per share, with a total value of $7,874,468.96. Following the completion of the acquisition, the insider owned 12,963,396 shares in the company, valued at $172,153,898.88. The trade was a 4.79% increase in their position. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 2,848,869 shares of company stock worth $36,807,872. Insiders own 30.85% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. boosted its holdings in Mission Produce by 36.9% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 4,775,250 shares of the company's stock valued at $56,300,000 after purchasing an additional 1,286,263 shares during the period. Fourth Sail Capital LP increased its holdings in shares of Mission Produce by 258.5% during the second quarter. Fourth Sail Capital LP now owns 3,976,272 shares of the company's stock worth $46,880,000 after purchasing an additional 2,867,072 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Mission Produce by 12.4% during the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 3,024,310 shares of the company's stock worth $41,614,000 after purchasing an additional 334,629 shares during the period. Rubric Capital Management LP bought a new position in shares of Mission Produce during the first quarter worth approximately $23,756,000. Finally, Platform Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Mission Produce in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $12,130,000. Institutional investors own 63.57% of the company's stock.

About Mission Produce

Mission Produce, Inc NASDAQ: AVO is an avocado sourcing, production, distribution and marketing company headquartered in Oxnard, California. The company supplies fresh Hass avocados and other avocado varieties to retail, foodservice and wholesale customers, managing activities across the supply chain from growing and procurement to ripening, packing and delivery.

Mission Produce works with avocado growers and operates or manages production and distribution activities in several major growing regions, including Mexico, Peru, Colombia, Chile, Brazil and the United States.

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