Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO) Issues Quarterly Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.11 EPS

Key Points

• Mission Produce reported earnings of $0.24 per share for the quarter, exceeding expectations by $0.11, with a net margin of 2.63% and a return on equity of 7.82%.
• The company’s stock price rose 1.9% on the trading day to $12.87, finishing with a market capitalization of approximately $908.88 million.
• Insider trading activity included CFO Bryan E. Giles selling 3,500 shares, reducing his ownership by 2.60%, while hedge funds have increased their stakes in the company significantly during the second quarter.

Mission Produce (NASDAQ:AVO - Get Free Report) issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday. The company reported $0.24 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.13 by $0.11, Zacks reports. The firm had revenue of $357.70 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $320.35 million. Mission Produce had a net margin of 2.73% and a return on equity of 7.89%. Mission Produce's revenue for the quarter was up 10.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.23 earnings per share.

Mission Produce Stock Performance

Mission Produce stock traded up $0.55 on Friday, reaching $12.74. 769,639 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 490,020. The stock has a market cap of $899.69 million, a PE ratio of 23.59 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a current ratio of 2.04, a quick ratio of 1.23 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.25. Mission Produce has a twelve month low of $9.56 and a twelve month high of $15.25. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $12.34 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $11.37.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AVO. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Mission Produce by 287.6% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 360,863 shares of the company's stock valued at $4,229,000 after buying an additional 267,752 shares during the last quarter. Man Group plc raised its position in shares of Mission Produce by 105.5% during the second quarter. Man Group plc now owns 169,505 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,987,000 after buying an additional 87,011 shares during the last quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Mission Produce by 69.9% during the second quarter. Lazard Asset Management LLC now owns 187,970 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,203,000 after buying an additional 77,327 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Mission Produce by 228.4% during the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 95,816 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,004,000 after buying an additional 66,640 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Mission Produce during the first quarter valued at about $581,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.57% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on AVO. Roth Capital upped their price objective on shares of Mission Produce from $16.00 to $17.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday. Zacks Research lowered shares of Mission Produce from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 26th. Finally, Stephens assumed coverage on shares of Mission Produce in a research report on Friday. They set an "overweight" rating and a $17.00 target price for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $17.00.

Mission Produce Company Profile

Mission Produce, Inc engages in the sourcing, farming, packaging, marketing, and distribution of avocados, mangoes, and blueberries to food retailers, distributors, and foodservice customers in the United States and internationally. The company operates through three segments, Marketing and Distribution; International Farming; and Blueberries.