Earnings season is basically over, but there are still some reports out there. On Friday, Wimm-Bill-Dann (NYSE: WBD), a dairy and juice distributor based in Russia, divulged its Q1 earnings stats. Talk about growth across the board. Everything was double-digit appreciation (except for one metric, which I'll get to in just a minute).
Seriously, this is like a picture of perfection in many ways. Net revenues jumped 35%. Gross profit shot up 26%. Operating income soared 23%. Net income on a dollar basis rose 31%. Net income on a diluted basis increased 30% to $0.95 per share. Bravo, Wimm-Bill-Dann!
Now, there's one metric that the company didn't shine on. It can be found in the statement of cash flows. Net cash from operating activities actually declined 45%. Okay, cash flow is one of my favorite metrics, so yes, this decrease isn't a joyous event for me. But this is just the first quarter. The growth rates in the other areas nevertheless inspire confidence in this foreign company. Plus, according to Reuters, this quarterly performance beat expectations.
According to AOL Finance, Wimm-Bill-Dann has been a pretty strong stock the past few years. And it held up relatively well in Friday's pounding sell-off. Although I wouldn't discourage anyone from investigating this idea further, especially those who want to expose a portfolio to a foreign-based consumer stock, I have to point out that, when it comes to investing in food stocks, I like ones that have a well-defined dividend plan, especially in an environment such as this one (according to Reuters, Wimm-Bill-Dann doesn't). I'd probably think of companies such as Kraft (NYSE: KFT), Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO), or PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP) before I'd consider Wimm-Bill-Dann.
Still, I think Wimm-Bill-Dann delivered a fine quarter, and I think the stock could be interesting considering it is off its highs of the year (on Friday, the stock closed around $125 per share, and the 52-week high is about $145 per share). However, please perform your own due diligence before considering action on it.
Disclosure: I own shares of Coca-Cola; positions can change at any time.











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