Diamond Food Deepens Loss in Q4

Diamond Foods stock isn't tasting too good, after the company reported its latest quarterly figures. For its Q4, net sales were just under $200 million, a nearly 11% drop from the $224 million in the same period the previous year. Attributable net loss widened significantly to $147.1 million ($6.71 per diluted share) from Q4 2012's red figure of $32.9 million ($1.52). This quarter's shortfall was badly affected by several one-time expenses, particularly a $96.1 million securities class action lawsuit and a $36 million writedown of assets related to its Kettle Chips brand.

Analysts had been expecting net sales of $193 million and a per-share loss of $0.03.

For the entirety of fiscal 2013, top line was $864 million, a 12% decline from the year-ago number of $981 million. Net loss came in at $163.2 million ($7.48 per diluted share) for the year against 2012's $86.3 million ($3.98).

Diamond Foods also provided limited guidance. The snack-food purveyor said its fiscal 2014 is anticipated "to be a year of earnings improvement." It did not elaborate.

The article Diamond Food Deepens Loss in Q4 originally appeared on Fool.com.

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