Calavo Growers, Inc. (CVGW)

[Emerging Growth]

Solid Long Term play...

See the full article and content here: http://emerginggrowth.com/investing_today/limoneira-nasdaq-lmnr-solid-long-term-play/01/28/2013

120 year old Limoneira (NASDAQ: LMNR) is a relatively unknown fairly diversified agribusiness company which left the pink sheets to list on Nasdaq in 2010. The company cultivates and markets avocados, lemons and oranges yet it is also a real estate development company, and as of the end of 2011 owned 188 residential units in Santa Paula, California and 1,873 properties in various stages of development in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura California. On the ag side Limoneira owns 5,800 acres of farmland in California; including 1,766 used to grow lemons, 1,254 for avocados, and 1,062 for oranges. Total agricultural acreage owned by the company is the equivalent of nine square miles of prime farm land. The company also owns water rights associated with the land. Of interest to note is that in 2005 competitor avocado producer Calavo (NASDAQ: CVGW) and Limoneira executed a cross-equity agreement, in which Calavo acquired a 15.1 percent stake in the company, and Limoneira became CVGW’s second largest shareholder with a 6.9 percent stake. Although the companies continue to hold ownership in each other LMNR has reduced its stake in CVGW somewhat.

The company has a market cap of $243.32 million and is trading at $21.80. Q4 results are out and the numbers are not bad, though TheStreet downgraded the company this past week from a buy to hold. They cite unimpressive growth in net income, weak profit margins and poor operating cash flow as their reasoning behind the downgrade. On the plus side the revenue growth exceeded the industry average of 10.7percent. In fact revenues rose year-over year by 36.0 percent. During the past fiscal year, Limoneira upped its bottom line by earning $0.26 as opposed to $0.12 in 2011. This year analysts expect an improvement in earnings of $0.52 versus $0.26 currently, so the company is poised for growth despite disappointing profit margins and a steep decline in earnings for Q4 2012.

What may be the most compelling thing about Limoneira, it’s the company’s assets, not operating results. Perhaps when looking at this as a possible investment one should also look at the company’s solid staying power. 120 year is a long time to be around. At the moment the company is trading for 68 times earnings, and 37 times 2013 consensus estimates. The first nine months of revenue for 2012 were extremely nice, up 22.6 percent over the same period in 2011, and that trend continued for Q4 of 2012.

Not every stock is meant for every investor. We all have different styles of investing and as always I urge any perspective trader to research before they buy.