3rd Q earnings report was favorable on both sales and earnings with records set for both. The company hinted at the possibility of an acceleration of sales (and presumably earnings) with the introduction of new products in coming Q4. There may well be a boost to Q4 sales as new products get stocked up by customers. The weak dollar may also help boost international sales. How well all this gets executed may determine the price action in the next 3-6 months.
I've been in AMNF for a couple of years now. One thing that I've never seen management address in any of their reports is what they are doing to promote wider distribution of AMNF products. I would like to buy them, but live in a part of the US where they simply aren't available. I called the company once and they said products would have to be air freighted to me since they must be kept frozen. Too expensive to be practical! Really would like to buy AMNF products though, as they are high quality and some are organic. My wife has significant allergies to chemicals added to foods, but she can eat virtually any organic products.
If AMNF could significantly increase product distribution, that seems like the key to me to greatly increased sales. I keep hoping this will happen, as it could turn AMNF into a stellar growth stock, with out-sized gains in both revenues and earnings for years. I would be more impressed with well-executed plans for better distribution than additional new products. At only a 3-5% sales growth rate, it's hard to see super out-sized earnings and stock gains continuing over a long period of time.
The stock has done fantastically well this year already. No doubt we are overbought technically, so there may well be a sharp correction at some point. Every now and then there is a mini-flash crash in the shares. They used to scare me, but every one during the last few years occurred on no news and turned out to be a big buying opportunity. I added significantly to my position during the last one back on 3-8-13 at around $1.00, and I'm very glad I did.
At roughly 19 times trailing 12 month earnings, AMNF is no longer as cheap as it was back when it had a PE of 10-12 and a 5% dividend. However, the PE ratio is not out of line with other food companies and still sports a 3%+ dividend. (3rd Q paid today, happily!). I am still expecting good things from AMNF. It is a core position for me which I don't intend to sell unless there is actual bad news out of the company that lasts more than just a quarter or two.
If you see a significant sharp pullback on no news some day, snap some shares up! The future looks bright for AMNF as near as I can tell, based on the information now available.
