By Jorge Mercado Tuesday, September 14th, 2021

Limoneira delivered a small earnings beat when the company announced its fiscal results for the third quarter of 2021.

Limoneira had released preliminary results Aug. 24 highlighting strong fresh lemon utilization, which helped offset a smaller-than-expected avocado output.

According to the audited results, released Sept. 8, Limoneira generated $49.1 million in revenue in the third quarter of 2021, down slightly $53.6 million in the same quarter a year earlier.

Despite the revenue drop, Limoneira delivered earnings of 20 cents per share, or $3.6 million in net income, up from 12 cents per share, or $2.2 million in net income, in the same quarter of 2020.

Limoneira’s earnings also beat Zacks’ Consensus Estimate’s projection, which had the Santa Paula-based agribusiness at 18 cents per share. Over the last four quarters, Limoneira has beaten Zacks’ Consensus Estimate’s projection three times.

Limoneira saw its biggest drop in lemon sales, which dropped from $35.6 million to $24.4 million in a year. Volume was down from 1.97 million cartons of fresh lemons in the third quarter of 2020 to 1.14 million cartons in the same quarter of 2021.

An increase in the average price per carton helped mitigate that decline, as the average price went from $17.91 per carton in 2020 to $21.34 in 2021.

Limoneira generated $4.1 million in revenue from avocado sales. The company sold just 3.5 million pounds of avocados in the third quarter of 2021, compared to 6.1 million in the same quarter a year ago, but the average price per pound sold rose by 16 cents.

Limoneira also reported $2 million in revenue from orange sales.

Limoneira’s stock closed at $15.76 on Sept. 9 and shares remained about the next week, closing at $15.33 on Sept. 14. Shares are down around 13% since the company shared its preliminary earnings report on Aug. 24.