What happened
Friday was an excellent day to be a shareholder of agribusiness company Limoneira (LMNR -1.04%). That's because the company delivered investor-pleasing results for its most recent quarter; as a result, the stock's price closed almost 11% higher on the day.
So what
After market close Thursday, Limoneira divulged that it earned $58.9 million in revenue for its fiscal third quarter of 2022. This was a juicy 20% higher than in the same period of last year. The improvement was even more pronounced on the bottom line, where the company -- which primarily grows and sells citrus fruit and avocados -- more than doubled its profit to over $7.2 million ($0.41 per share) from the third-quarter 2021 result of just under $3.6 million.
Both figures trounced the average analyst estimates. Collectively, prognosticators following Limoneira stock were modeling revenue of only $51.4 million while anticipating a per-share net profit of $0.24.
Limoneira did well during the quarter thanks to brisk sales of fresh lemon, and record take from avocados. This, despite the fact that pricing for the former was "challenged," in the company's words, as customers both in the U.S. and abroad continued to work through inventory surpluses.
Now what
For the entirety of fiscal 2022, Limoneira proffered selected guidance. The company feels that that it will continue to grow thanks to its "stronger position in retail food and club grocery." That said, it did not provide any revenue or profitability estimates; rather it wrote that its sales volume in the core fresh lemon segment should amount to 4.5 million to 5 million cartons for the period.
