Jones Soda tanked 15.7% to $7.49 in extended trading Thursday after the company reported an unexpected third-quarter loss. Analysts had forecast earnings of $0.02/share, but Jones posted a $1.5 million ($0.06/share) loss, compared to net income of $195,000 ($0.01/share) last year.
Revenue growth of 15.1% to $11.7M also disappointed. Analysts were expecting revenues of $13.9M, on average. Operating costs as a percentage of sales jumped to 52.1% from 36.8% last year, on new sales and marketing personnel hires and on increased promotional spending and fees of $1.3M versus only $62K last year. "While we have taken a number of important steps and investments to successfully position our company within the $70 billion carbonated soft drink market - including distribution of our product in over 15,000 retail locations across the United States - we have not executed as well as we know we can," commented CEO Peter van Stolk in a statement (full earnings call transcript later today). Shares of Jones Soda lost 1.7% to $8.88 during Thursday's normal session.
Commentary: Sweet Buying Opportunity In Jones Soda • Financial Sector in a Bind; Gold and Oil on the Rise; U.S. Dollar Slides Hard
Stocks to watch: OTCQB:JSDA. Competitors: HANS, CSG, KO, PEP
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