Boston, MA 06/09/2014 (wallstreetpr) – There was strong activity in the shares counter of packaged food company Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:DMND) during the week end with volumes four times higher than the preceding days. The markets reacted unfavorably to the company’s announcement of its earnings results for the third quarter that failed to meet analysts’ expectations. The percentage of difference between the actual and predictions was as much as 35.3% triggering a strong bearish sentiments among investors.
The anger among the investment community was quite understandable. Throughout the month of May, the stock managed to trade above $30 mark except for few times after it reached a yearly high of $35.58 on March 31. In the run up to the earnings results announcement, Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:DMND)’s shares recorded 9% upside between the closing price of $30.57 on April 30 and 33.32 on June 5. On June 6, a total volume traded in the counter amounted to 2.468 million shares compared to the three-month average volume of 363.3K shares and 10-day volume of 573.3K shares.
With the stock closing at $29.74 on Friday shedding $3.58 or 10.74%, it has closed below the 50-day moving average of $31.21. If investors continued to dump the shares, then there is every possibility of breaking below the 200-day moving average price of $28.76, which means there could be further spell of selling pressure.
3Q Results
The company reported a loss of $105.6 million or a loss of $3.63 a share, wider than a net loss of $14.48 million or a loss of 71 cents a share in the year-ago quarter. However, on an adjusted basis, Diamond Foods, Inc. (NASDAQ:DMND) has not only earned profit, but its profit also grew to $3.48 million or 11 cents a share from $1.96 million or 8 cents a share in the year earlier period. Street analysts were expecting the company to earn 17 cents a share.
Net sales rose marginally to $190.89 million from $187.91 million in the previous year quarter. While net sales from snacks division advanced 9.6% to $114.3 million, net sales from its Nuts segment dipped 5.0% to $76.6 million.
