By Jorge Mercado Tuesday, September 14th, 2021

Shares of Mission Produce fell nearly 10% on Sept. 14, the day after the Oxnard-based avocado distributor and grower shared a flat third quarter 2021 financial report that fell below analysts’ expectations.

For the quarter ended June 30, Mission Produce generated ​​$247 million in revenue, a 4% increase from the same period a year ago. Earnings took a 21% drop, however, as the company saw net income of $18.4 million, or 26 cents per share, compared with $23.4 million, or 37 cents per share, in the third quarter of 2020.

Adjusted net income for Mission Produce was at $19.1 million, or 27 cents per share, down from the same quarter last year, it had income of $24.4 million, or 39 cents per share.

Analysts predicted Mission would bring in earnings of 30 cents per share, according to the research firm FactSet.

Mission did beat analysts’ expectations for revenue, however, which FactSet projected would be closer to $243 million.

Ventura County’s other publicly traded avocado distributor, Calavo Growers, also failed to meet expectations with its last earnings report on Sept. 8, and shares have dropped around 25% since then.

According to Mission CEO Steve Barnard, the company faced volatility in the most recent quarter as a result of Mexico’s delayed transitional harvest timing.

The company did see a 2% increase in both avocado volume and pricing, however, allowing the company to generate more in revenue than in the third quarter of 2020.

Mission also updated its guidance for the full fiscal year, lowering its projected revenue total from the $900 million to $920 million range to a range of $890 million to $900 million. That prediction is based on total annual volume of 655 million pounds to 665 million pounds of fruit, which is lower than the company’s prior guidance by about 15 million pounds, it noted in a press release.