Conferencia de resultados del tercer trimestre fiscal de 2026 de Limoneira (LMNR): aumenta el EBITDA, se eleva la previsión para el aguacate

Puntos clave

• Los ingresos netos del tercer trimestre del ejercicio fiscal 2026 cayeron a 43,8 millones de dólares desde los 47,8 millones, debido principalmente a la transición de las operaciones de intermediación de cítricos a Sunkist.
• El EBITDA ajustado aumentó a 3,9 millones de dólares desde los 3,0 millones. Los gastos generales, de venta y administrativos (SG&A) disminuyeron en 1,0 millones de dólares hasta los 4,0 millones, a medida que Limoneira avanzó hacia su objetivo de ahorro anual de 10 millones de dólares.
• Las ventas de limón fresco aumentaron a 27,3 millones de dólares gracias al incremento del precio medio hasta los 19,88 dólares por caja, aunque el volumen disminuyó a 1,373 millones de cajas.
• Limoneira elevó sus previsiones de volumen de aguacate para el ejercicio fiscal 2026 a un rango de 7,0 a 7,25 millones de libras, frente a los 5,5 a 6,5 millones de libras anteriores, tras vender aproximadamente 7,0 millones de libras en el tercer trimestre.
• La dirección redujo las previsiones de volumen de limón fresco a entre 4,0 y 4,25 millones de cajas, alegando un exceso de importaciones argentinas que ejerció presión tanto sobre el volumen de ventas como sobre los precios.
• La empresa prevé que la producción de aguacate del ejercicio fiscal 2027 supere los 10 millones de libras, al menos un 30% más que en el ejercicio fiscal 2026, impulsada por la superficie plantada en 2023 y 2024.

Datos financieros clave

A 31 de julio de 2026, la deuda a largo plazo, excluida la porción corriente, era de 100,7 millones de dólares, en comparación con los 72,5 millones de dólares al cierre del ejercicio fiscal 2025. El efectivo y equivalentes se situaron en 2,2 millones de dólares, frente a los 1,5 millones.

Rendimiento comercial y operativo

La transición a Sunkist eliminó los ingresos por naranjas y cítricos de especialidad y redujo las ventas de limón en intermediación. Estos efectos se vieron parcialmente compensados por los mayores precios del limón fresco y de las ventas por caja. Limoneira no registró ingresos por naranjas en el trimestre, en comparación con los 1,7 millones de dólares del año anterior, mientras que las ventas de limón en intermediación y otros limones cayeron de 3,8 millones de dólares a una cantidad no significativa.

El volumen de aguacate aumentó drásticamente, incluyendo fruta retenida intencionadamente en el segundo trimestre. Este beneficio se vio parcialmente contrarrestado por la caída del precio medio a 1,15 dólares por libra desde los 1,50 dólares.

Limoneira prevé que 400 acres plantados en 2023 y 2024 comiencen a aportar en el ejercicio fiscal 2027. Se espera que otros 400 acres aún improductivos empiecen a producir en los próximos dos a cuatro años.

La empresa constituyó una empresa conjunta al 50% de reciclaje orgánico con Agromin. La dirección señaló que las instalaciones planificadas podrían procesar hasta 290.000 toneladas de residuos orgánicos al año y se prevé que comiencen a operar en la segunda mitad del ejercicio fiscal 2027.

Limoneira también acordó vender Windfall Farms por 15 millones de dólares en efectivo, con un cierre previsto para el 14 de septiembre de 2026, sujeto a las condiciones habituales. Los fondos se destinarán a la reducción de deuda y a la continua expansión de la superficie de aguacate. Limoneira seguirá cultivando la propiedad por 200.000 dólares anuales más el reembolso de los gastos del inmueble.

Previsiones de la dirección

• Volumen de limón fresco para el ejercicio fiscal 2026: entre 4,0 y 4,25 millones de cajas.
• Volumen de aguacate para el ejercicio fiscal 2026: entre 7,0 y 7,25 millones de libras, elevado desde el rango previo de 5,5 a 6,5 millones de libras.
• Volumen de aguacate para el ejercicio fiscal 2027: más de 10 millones de libras y un crecimiento de al menos el 30% respecto al ejercicio fiscal 2026.
• T4 del ejercicio fiscal 2026: la dirección prevé un EBITDA ajustado positivo y una operación de monetización de derechos de agua.
• Ejercicio fiscal 2027: la dirección prevé un EBITDA significativamente más sólido, impulsado por el crecimiento del aguacate, el pleno aprovechamiento de los ahorros de costes, la optimización del empaquetado con Sunkist y una previsión de 4 millones de dólares en mejoras operativas adicionales.

La empresa ha identificado más de 200 millones de dólares en activos de desarrollo inmobiliario, terrenos no estratégicos y derechos de agua para su potencial monetización. La dirección también espera ingresos totales por aproximadamente 180 millones de dólares procedentes de Harvest at Limoneira, Limoneira Lewis Community Builders II y East Area II a lo largo de siete ejercicios fiscales. De esa cantidad, se recibieron 25 millones de dólares en los ejercicios fiscales 2024 y 2025, dejando unos 155 millones de dólares previstos durante los próximos cinco ejercicios fiscales.

Riesgos y aspectos a vigilar

Unas importaciones de limón argentino no previstas sobreabastecieron el mercado de EE. UU. después de que la oferta sudafricana ejerciera presión sobre los precios en Europa Occidental. La dirección afirmó que esto redujo el volumen de limón de Limoneira y sus precios. Los precios han comenzado a estabilizarse, pero la empresa sigue siendo cauta a la hora de introducir oferta adicional en el cuarto trimestre del ejercicio fiscal.

La producción de aguacate del ejercicio fiscal 2027 sigue dependiendo del desarrollo del fruto, su retención en el árbol y las condiciones meteorológicas. La dirección citó específicamente el viento y otros eventos climáticos como riesgos. Unas lluvias intensas en California podrían favorecer los acuíferos y la salud de los árboles, pero las precipitaciones concentradas podrían causar inundaciones.

La deuda a largo plazo aumentó considerablemente desde el cierre del ejercicio fiscal 2025. La reducción de deuda planificada depende en parte de la finalización de las ventas de activos y las transacciones de monetización.

Puntos destacados del turno de preguntas de los analistas

La dirección atribuyó el déficit en el negocio de limones principalmente a la fruta argentina desviada hacia EE. UU. después de que Europa Occidental se viera sobreabastecida de limones sudafricanos. La empresa prevé que la presión disminuya a medida que se reduzca la oferta importada, aunque los efectos aún no se han disipado por completo.

Respecto a la monetización del agua, la dirección declaró que el proceso sigue según lo previsto. Limoneira ha eliminado la producción de limón en Arizona y está identificando cultivos alternativos con menor consumo de agua, lo que podría liberar derechos de agua del río Colorado para programas de conservación a largo plazo destinados a usuarios municipales.

En cuanto a la producción de aguacate para el ejercicio fiscal 2027, la dirección afirmó que ya se aprecia una gran cosecha en los árboles, lo que refuerza la confianza en el objetivo de superar los 10 millones de libras. Sin embargo, la empresa advirtió de que la producción no está garantizada, ya que la fruta debe permanecer en los árboles y soportar las condiciones climáticas antes de la recolección.

Transcripción completa de la conferencia de resultados

Transcripción completa de la conferencia de resultados

Comentarios de la dirección

Operator

Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us for Limoneira's Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2026 Conference Call. On the call today are Harold Edwards, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Greg Hamm, Chief Financial Officer. By now, everyone should have access to the third quarter fiscal year 2026 earnings release, which went out today at approximately 4 p.m. Eastern time. If you've not had a chance to view the release, it's available on the investor relations portion of the company's website at Limoneira.com. This call is being webcast and a replay will be available on Limoneira's website as well. Before we begin, we'd like to remind everyone that prepared remarks contain forward-looking statements and management may make additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions. Such statements involve a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, many of which are outside the company's control and could cause its future results, performance, or achievements to differ significantly from results, performance, or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements.

Important factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include risk detailed in the company's Form 10-Qs and 10-Ks filed with the SEC and those mentioned in the earnings release. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking or other statements herein, whether a result of new information, future events, or otherwise. Please note that during today's call, we'll be discussing non-GAAP financial measures, including results on an adjusted basis. We believe these adjusted financial measures can facilitate a more complete analysis and greater understanding of Limoneira's ongoing results of operations, particularly when comparing underlying results from period to period. We have provided as much detail as possible on any items that are discussed on an adjusted basis. Also, in the company's earnings release and in today's prepared remarks, we include adjusted EBITDA and adjusted diluted EPS, which are non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA and adjusted diluted EPS to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are included in the company's press release, which has been posted to our website.

And with that, it is my pleasure to turn the call over to the company's president and CEO, Mr. Harold Edwards.

Harold Edwards

Thanks, John, and good afternoon, everyone. During the third quarter, we continued to make progress on our value creation strategy of growing long-term agricultural income, which includes streamlining operations, expanding avocado production, optimizing lemon packing with recently announced Sunkist partnership, and expanding our organic recycling facility. In addition, we have identified real estate development and non-strategic land assets and water rights of over $200 million. The third quarter results came in below our expectations due to lighter than anticipated lemon sales volume. However, adjusted EBITDA exceeded prior year third quarter results. The quarter benefited from higher total agribusiness operating income driven by stronger than expected avocado volume and progress toward our targeted $10 million in annual selling, general and administrative expense savings. We now expect to achieve the lower end of our lemon volume guidance as a result of higher lemon imports hitting the U.S. market.

However, we are again raising our avocado volume guidance for fiscal year 2026. Looking ahead, we expect to produce more than 10 million pounds of avocados in fiscal year 2027, an increase of approximately 30 percent over fiscal year 2026. This growth is driven by the 400 acres of avocados we planted in 2023 and 2024, which are expected to set a crop this year and contribute to volume in fiscal year 2027. We also have an additional 400 non-bearing acres that are expected to begin bearing in the next two to four years. As a reminder, California avocados command premium pricing due to the superior quality, and our strategic location provides logistical advantages to the highest per capita consumption markets in the U.S. Turning to the monetization of non-strategic assets, we expect the sale of Windfall Farms for $15 million to close on September 14, 2026, which is the most recent step in our ongoing strategy to monetize non-strategic assets, strengthen our balance sheet, reduce debt, and redeploy capital into higher return opportunities across our core agribusiness and real estate platforms. As we enter the fiscal fourth quarter, we expect another quarter of positive adjusted EBITDA and additional asset monetization events.

Regarding our water rights monetization, we've taken decisive steps in Arizona, ceasing citrus farming operations on 600 acres of lemons to focus on water monetization by farming low-water use crops, which we anticipate will make this asset significantly more profitable. We expect a monetization event from our Class III Colorado River water rights in 2026. Additionally, our Santa Paula Basin conserved pumping rights represent high-value, non-operational resources that we can convert to cash while maintaining our agricultural operations. Looking into fiscal year 2027, we are well positioned to achieve meaningfully stronger EBITDA. This includes the benefit from our recently signed 50-50 organic recycling joint venture with Agromin to create a potential high return facility with the capacity to process up to 290,000 tons of organic waste annually. This is expected to generate significant shared earnings when the facility becomes operational in the second half of fiscal year 2027. With a dramatic increase in our avocado volume from the additional acreage that was planted in 2023 and 2024, realizing the full benefit from our current cost savings initiatives, optimizing lemon packing with our transition to Sunkist, and an additional $4 million in anticipated operating improvement due to Windfall Farms management, improved lemon storage margins, and improved lemon logistics. Turning to our real estate development project, Harvest at Limoneira, we continue to expect future proceeds from Harvest, Limoneira Lewis Community Builders II and East Area II to total $155 million over the next five fiscal years.

Home sales for phase two continued to be robust with two to seven homes per week being sold. Phase three of the project consists of approximately 500 home lots, and we believe we will go to market with this phase in fiscal year 2027. In addition, we have 300 apartments approved and expect to break ground on this portion of the project in the second half of fiscal year 2027. Part of our real estate development is a 25-acre East Area II medical pavilion project that we believe could begin to be monetized in fiscal year 2026. Additionally, we have Leoncito Del Mar, our 221-acre agricultural infill property, which represents a strategic asset with potential for residential development and significant long-term value creation. In summary, as we enter the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026, we believe we are very well positioned to achieve positive adjusted EBITDA and monetize one of our water assets in the quarter and continue building the foundation for sustained profitability. We've transformed our cost structure, focused our revenue streams, optimized our asset base, and positioned ourselves for sustainable EBITDA growth.

I believe the items just discussed have us very well positioned to unlock the tremendous asset value at Limoneira. Now let me turn the call over to Greg for the financial details, and then we'll take your questions. Thank you.

Greg Hamm

Thank you, Harold, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to be speaking with you today to discuss our third quarter fiscal year 2026 financial results. As we discussed last quarter, the third and fourth quarters were expected to be our seasonally stronger periods under the Sunkist Agreement, and our third quarter results are tracking in line with that expectation. Total net revenue for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 were $43.8 million compared to $47.8 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025. Agribusiness revenues totaled $42.2 million compared to $45.9 million in the prior year third quarter. Other operations revenue was $1.6 million compared to $1.5 million in the prior year third quarter. The year-over-year decrease was primarily due to the transition of our citrus brokerage operations to Sunkist, which eliminated orange and specialty citrus revenues and decreased brokered lemon and other lemon sales, partially offset by increased fresh lemon and carton sales driven by higher pricing.

Additionally, avocado revenues decreased due to lower prices, partially offset by higher volume of avocados sold compared to the prior year third quarter. Fresh lemon carton sales were $27.3 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, compared to $23.8 million in the same period last year. We sold approximately 1,373,000 cartons of fresh lemons at an average price of $19.88 per carton during the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, compared to 1,397,000 cartons at $17.02 per carton in the prior year third quarter. Fresh lemon carton sales and per carton prices for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 are net of the Sunkist marketing fee. Brokered lemons and other lemon sales were immaterial in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, compared to $3.8 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025. Turning to avocados, through the first nine months of fiscal year 2026, we sold approximately 7.3 million pounds of avocados, exceeding the high end of our previous full-year guidance range of 5.5 million to 6.5 million pounds. In the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, we sold approximately 7 million pounds at an average price of $1.15 per pound compared to 5.7 million pounds at $1.50 per pound in the prior year period.

The increase in volume includes some of the harvest we intentionally delayed from the second quarter to maximize pricing and reflects the alternating high and low production years that are typical of the California avocado crop, partially offset by lower average pricing this quarter compared to the prior year. There was no orange revenue in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 compared to $1.7 million in the same period last year, and no specialty citrus and wine grape revenue compared to $600,000 in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025, both due to the transition of our citrus brokerage operations to Sunkist. Total costs and expenses in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 were $46.8 million compared to $48.1 million in the third quarter of last fiscal year, primarily driven by a decrease in agribusiness costs and lower selling, general and administrative expenses partially offset by impairment of assets related to Windfall Farms. Selling, general and administrative expenses were $4 million compared to $5 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025, primarily reflecting lower salaries, benefits, and other selling expenses related to the Sunkist transition. Operating loss for the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 was $3 million, compared to an operating loss of $600,000 in the prior year period. This reflects the revenue and cost factors just described. Net loss applicable to common stock after preferred dividends was $3 million, or 17 cents per diluted share, in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, compared to a net loss applicable to common stock of $1 million, or 6 cents per diluted share, in the third quarter of fiscal year 2025.

Now, let me turn to adjusted results. Adjusted net income for diluted EPS in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026 was $400,000, or two cents per diluted share, compared to an adjusted net loss of $400,000, or two cents per diluted share in the prior year period. A full reconciliation is provided in our earnings release. Non-GAAP adjusted EBITDA was $3.9 million in the third quarter of fiscal year 2026, compared to $3 million in the same period last year. Reconciliation to net loss attributable to Limoneira Company is provided in our earnings release. Turning to our balance sheet, long-term debt less current portion as of July 31st, 2026 was $100.7 million compared to $72.5 million at the end of fiscal year 2025. Cash and cash equivalents were $2.2 million as of July 31st, 2026 compared to $1.5 million at the end of fiscal year 2025.

During the first nine months of fiscal year 2026, we received aggregate insurance proceeds of $5.4 million related to combined business interruption and casualty loss claims arising from incidents at our packinghouses. On September 2, 2026, we received confirmation from our insurance company then an additional $2 million of insurance proceeds is to be paid for these claims. We anticipate receiving these additional insurance proceeds in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2026, at which time income will be recognized for the amounts received. I also want to update you on the Windfall Farms transaction. Subsequent to quarter end on August 17, we announced that we entered into a new agreement to sell Windfall Farms for $15 million all cash following a competitive public auction process. We expect this transaction to close on September 14, 2026, subject to customary closing conditions, and we intend to use the proceeds to reduce debt and fund continued avocado acreage expansion, consistent with our capital allocation priorities. There are two additional pieces of the transaction worth highlighting.

First, the buyer has executed a farming agreement under which we will continue to farm the vineyard property and will be paid $200,000 per year in addition to full reimbursement of all expenses on the property. Second, the buyer elected to exclude the 2026 crop from the sale so we will be able to collect the economic benefit of this year's vineyard crop, which we expect to be substantially complete by October 31st. Now I'd like to turn the call back to Harold to discuss our remaining fiscal year 2026 outlook and longer-term growth objectives.

Harold Edwards

pipeline. Thank you, Greg. We expect to achieve the lower end of our fresh lemon volumes due to higher import volume and now believe we will sell 4.0 million to 4.25 million cartons for fiscal year 2026. We have increased our expected avocado volumes to now be in the range of 7 million to 7.25 million pounds compared to the previous range of 5.5 million to 6.5 million pounds for fiscal year 2026. We expect at least 30% increase in volume in fiscal year 2027 compared to fiscal year 2026. We have identified over $200 million in real estate development and non-strategic land assets and water rights that we expect to monetize beginning in the fourth quarter of this year and over the next few years. In addition, we expect to receive total proceeds of approximately $180 million from Harvest, Limoneira Lewis Community Builders II, and East Area II spread out over seven fiscal years, of which $10 million was received in fiscal year 2025 and $15 million was received in fiscal year 2024. We're excited about our overall business for fiscal year 2027 and the tremendous opportunity we have to enhance shareholder value through improved agricultural results and monetization events. Operator, we'll now open the call to questions.

Thank you. We'll now be conducting a question and answer session.

Operator

[Operator Instructions]

Thank you. Our first question is from Puran Sharma with Stephens.

Preguntas y respuestas

Pooran Sharma

Good afternoon and thanks for the question here. Just wanted to understand the lemon volumes and imports you called out. I believe you mentioned higher imports as the reason you're going to the lower end of the guide here. Could you maybe give us a sense as to where you're seeing these imports coming from? Is this mainly a timing issue? Or is it just more industry supply than you're anticipating here in the back half? Yes.

Harold Edwards

Hi, Puran. Thanks for the question. Yes, so as usual, there's a series of connected dots items that happened that caused the challenges in our sales volume in the third quarter. So the first thing that happened was Western Europe got oversupplied with lemons from South Africa. And Western Europe is typically the outlet for Argentina fruit. And so as the price went down in Western Europe, the Argentina fruit diverted to the U.S. and, in essence, oversupplied the market. And so that's really what happened is Sunkist's sales plan fell short because there were just too many lemons in the market at this time. And it hurt us on volume and it actually hurt us on price as well.

And it was just an unexpected oversupply from Argentina. And Argentina was the sole culprit of the oversupply in the lemons. And while that's beginning to be better and relieve itself as that fruit is diminishing in the market, we have intentionally held back on sort of pushing that additional supply forward in the fourth quarter out of an abundance of caution. We are seeing price beginning to firm and strengthen a bit, but there's still challenges with the aftermath of the oversupply caused by the imports of fruit from Argentina.

Pooran Sharma

Okay. Appreciate the color there. Maybe just on water monetization, I think you mentioned you have over $200 million of real estate, strategic land and certain water rights for potential monetization. I believe the Colorado River water monetization event, you're expecting it to occur here in fiscal 2026, which leaves kind of a narrow window. I just wanted to get your thoughts on what needs to happen here to complete a transaction. And has your confidence around the timing and the value of that monetization changed at all since the last quarter?

Harold Edwards

No, it's kind of right on track with the last quarter. So, a series of things needed to happen. The first is we needed to remove our lemons from our 1300 acres that we have of farmland in Yuma, Arizona. We've done that. The next thing is we needed to identify lower water-using crops that could be substituted for the lemons. And so we're close to some exciting announcements of what those crops will be. But by doing that, that then frees up a certain amount of water that won't be required for our agricultural operations, that we can contribute to following programs, long-term following programs that will allow water users, principally from municipalities, specifically probably the Central Arizona Project, so all of the housing Phoenix that goes all the way down to Tucson and throughout Arizona to take advantage of those water rights from the Colorado River. And so we're very confident that we're very close to entering into a long-term agreement to take advantage of these following programs, will provide significant benefit for us and our shareholders as we monetize those water rights in the fourth quarter of this fiscal year.

Great. Thank you very much. Thanks, Puran.

Operator

Thank you. Our next question is from Mark Smith with Lake Street Capital Markets.

Unknown Speaker

Hey guys, good afternoon. This is Alex Ewig on for Mark Smith. I just want to start. You guys raised avocado volume guidance again and are expecting over 10 million pounds in fiscal year 2027, which is about 30% increase year over year. Could you maybe walk us through the cadence of your 400 acres planted in 2023 and 2024 coming online and how much of that fiscal year 2024 is going to be? number is already locked in versus weather or yield dependent.

Greg Hamm

I would say that seven million, six to seven million is a lock-in because that's on acreage that is already producing and contributed to this year's volume. And then the rest of the increase would be on the expanded acreage from the 2022, 2023, 2024 planning.

Harold Edwards

I would just add to that that I think it's dangerous to use the word locked in because there's a lot of events that need to happen. Specifically, the fruit needs to grow. It needs to remain on the tree. It needs to survive wind events and weather-related events to get itself a runway between us and actual harvest and sales for 2027. But what we do know is we have a very large crop that's set for next year. We see the fruit on the tree right now. So we're off to a great start.

And so we're confident that we should see the trees that were planted in 2023 and 2024 begin to contribute to the overall production in 2027.

Unknown Speaker

Great, thank you. And what weather impact do you guys expect if the El Nino weather pattern is continuing?

Harold Edwards

Yes. So, they're predicting quite a bit of rain in this part of California, and just so long as it doesn't all come at once that creates flooding, then rain is actually a good thing for us. It fills up our aquifers and really helps with the physiology of our trees. The danger is, again, if it all comes all at once or too much at once, which causes flooding, which is always a challenge for us and potentially a risk for us. So we're ready. We've got our teams ready. We've got our culverts and our barrancas cleaned out, and we're ready for the rain. We're ready to face it. And I think the El Nino is predicted to have less rainfall in Mexico, which in theory would reduce the size of their crop and provide more opportunity for the California avocados.

Operator

Great. Thank you. I'll turn it over. Thank you. [Operator Instructions]

Thank you. At this time, there are no further questions. I'd like to hand the floor back over to Harold Edwards for any closing remarks.

Harold Edwards

So thank you all for your questions and your interest in Limoneira. Feel free to call Greg or I with additional questions, but we'd like to wish you a great day. Thank you. Thank you.

Operator

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you again for your participation.

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