Chiquita Brands International Earnings: Here’s Why the Stock is Down Now

Chiquita Brands International Inc. (NYSE:CQB) had a loss and missed Wall Street’s expectations, BUT beat the revenue expectation. The revenue beat is a positive sign to shareholders seeking high growth out of the company. Shares are down 0.19%.

Chiquita Brands International Inc. Earnings Cheat Sheet

Results: Adjusted Earnings Per Share decreased to $-7.20 in the quarter versus EPS of $-0.12 in the year-earlier quarter.

Revenue: Rose 2.26% to $738 million from the year-earlier quarter.

Actual vs. Wall St. Expectations: Chiquita Brands International Inc. reported adjusted EPS loss of $7.20 per share. By that measure, the company missed the mean analyst estimate of $-0.34. It beat the average revenue estimate of $708.95 million.

Quoting Management: “Chiquita has made significant progress implementing its refocused strategic direction in the second half of 2012, and is well positioned for future growth,” said Ed Lonergan, Chiquita`s president and chief executive officer. “Nevertheless, after adjusting for non-comparable items, both the fourth quarter and the full year reflect the challenges the company faced throughout the year and present difficult comparisons to prior periods due to the impact of euro exchange rates and lower retail salad results. However, we also have experienced higher local banana pricing in Europe as a result of a relatively balanced banana market and have benefited from savings associated with our value chain and corporate restructurings.”

Key Stats (on next page)…