: Mission Produce stock falls 13% on wider quarterly miss, revenue drop

Mission Produce Inc. AVO stock dropped more than 13% in the extended session Thursday after the avocado producer reported a wider-than-expected quarterly miss and said that its avocados and other fruits fetched lower prices. Mission Produce said it lost $8.8 million, or 12 cents a share, in the quarter, compared with $13.4 million, or 19 cents a share, in the year-ago period. Adjusted for one-time items, Mission Produce lost 7 cents a share. Revenue dropped 1% to $213.5 million, the company said. Analysts polled by FactSet expected the company to report a loss of 1 cent a share on sales of $197 million. “While the market is still adjusting to the lower pricing environment and an uncertain macroeconomic backdrop, we are optimistic that lower fruit pricing will ultimately drive greater consumption in the coming year compared to the depressed consumption rates we saw last year,” Chief Executive Steve Barnard said in a statement. The industry expects higher volumes for the fiscal second quarter mostly as the Mexican harvest is expected to be about 20% higher as compared with the previous season. That uptick, however, is offset in part by lower California volumes thanks to a later start to the harvest season, Mission Produce said. “Pricing is expected to be higher on a sequential basis, but lower on a year-over-year basis by 30-35% compared to the $2.04 per pound average experienced in second quarter of fiscal 2022,” the company said. Mission Produce ended the regular trading day down 2.7%.

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