The coffee market is running out of space for the little guys! Coffee Holding Company (NASDAQ:JVA) reported Thursday a loss per share for the quarter ending April 30, 2012 of $0.06 cents per share or $370,247. The loss represents a year over year drop in earnings of 127% from $0.22 cents for the quarter ending April 30, 2011.
Coffee Holdings Co. is a small player focused on private label coffee brands. Their portfolio includes S&W canned coffee, Café Supremo espresso, Don Manuel portion packs, Café Caribe specialty espresso, and Via Roma Italian Style Roast. As recently as June 6 of this year Coffee Holdings Co. was thought to be poised to take advantage of falling coffee prices, instead the larger players have dropped their coffee prices making premium name brand roasts as cheap as most private label brands.
Additional pressure from competitors and a surprise miss on earnings lead to a 15.38% drop in the stock’s value Wednesday from $7.28 to a closing price of $6.16. JVA trailed the NASDAQ by 14.52%on a day where most of the world markets were down.
Despite the terrible numbers the companies CEO Andrew Gordon is optimistic about the coming quarter and future quarters saying that the past four months have been the worst for the company in his 30 years in the industry.
Foodbeat’s Take: Stick with the good stuff, Kraft Foods (NYSE:KFT) and J.M. Smucker Co. (NYSE:SJM) which produce Maxwell House and Folgers respectively pay better dividends and hold a tried and true business model. It doesn’t hurt having oodles of big business money at your back either.
Sources: Associated Press
