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Jones Soda loses its founder/visionary

Zac Bissonnette — Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:25:00 EST

Filed under: Management, Jones Soda (JSDA)

Shares of Jones Soda (NASDAQ: JSDA) rallied more than 7% Wednesday and continue to rally another 1.8% today after its CEO Peter Van Stolk stepped down. In the press release, Jones Soda said,

Jones Soda Co. today announced that Peter van Stolk will step down from his position as chairman of the board of directors and as chief executive officer at the end of the year. He will remain on as a member of the board of directors. Board members Scott Bedbury and Steve Jones will take on the interim positions of chairman and CEO respectively while the company conducts a search for a new CEO.

The move comes after a tough year for Jones Soda complete with a huge decline in share price and outrage and a short-lived SEC investigation of insider trading by members of the company's board of directors. Before investors get too excited about van Stolk's departure, they should read what the company said about him in its 10-K filed on March 14th:

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Jones Soda loses its founder/visionary originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 06 Dec 2007 17:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Starbucks drops Jones Soda

Beth Gaston Moon — Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:55:00 EST

Filed under: Products and Services, Consumer Experience, Starbucks (SBUX), Jones Soda (JSDA)

If your coffee-break companion prefers a root beer to a iced latte, he or she may soon be out of luck. Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) is taking Jones Soda (NASDAQ: JSDA) off its shelves, after stocking the soft drink company's root beer and black cherry beverages since March 2004 in the U.S. and since 1999 in Western Canada stores. The pops/sodas/cold drinks (depending on your region) will be pulled by the end of June.

A SBUX spokesperson noted that "[Jones] has been a very good partner, but we decided to move in a different direction." In a less vague statement, the company said it intends to use the extra refrigerated space -- now made vacant by the elimination of Jones products -- to chill additional cold-food offerings for Starbucks patrons.

Jones Chief Executive Peter van Stolk noted that "We are working with [Starbucks] . . . and we will support them in many ways." He also noted that the two companies, both headquartered in Seattle, have a "relationship that we will work on building," asserting that "We are good partners."

As for the bottom line, van Stolk opined that its exclusion from the Starbucks chain will not severely impact revenue, and a Stifel Nicolaus analyst said that sales in SBUX stores probably represented less than 3% of total Jones sales. An analyst with ThinkEquity Partners, however, was quick to say today's news "is certainly not favorable . . . now we have a shrinking situation [for Jones Soda]."

In early trading, JSDA shares have dropped 5.7% after a loss of nearly 4% in Wednesday's session.

So much for keeping up with the Jones.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

Starbucks drops Jones Soda originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Thu, 14 Jun 2007 10:55:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Cramer on a Quest and doing a Jones

Jon Ogg — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 19:31:00 EST

Filed under: After the Bell, Analyst Reports, Hansen Natural (HANS), Jones Soda (JSDA)

Jim Cramer reviewed a last Fallen Angel on CNBC's MAD MONEY tonight: Quest Diagnostics (NYSE:DGX). He owns it in his trust, for disclosure. He said that Quest losing Oxford's business (UnitedHealth Group NYSE:UNH) took the stock down under $49. The company had already announced the news a month earlier. He isn't minimizing the business loss, or so he says, because it was $400 million of their $6 billion in total business. The company beat last week by $0.05 on EPS, but lowered guidance. He said it traded up $1.00 because the street is assuming it is conservative. He thinks it could earn $3.10 and they are low-balling estimates at $2.95. It closed at $52.25 and is now up at $52.90 in after-hours. J.P.Morgan just raised it and a broker luncheon on it last week was over-attended.

Cramer interviewed the CEO of Jones Soda (NASDAQ:JSDA), Peter van Stolk, before closing down MAD MONEY until tomorrow. It lost Target business, but he said that is only 2% of their business. The company doesn't use high-fructose corn syrup, they use cane sugar. Cramer doesn't think it has finished rising. The company won't be announcing any new product data until the first week of March. Cramer said it was up $1.00, but he said let it pull-back and then you can buy it since it was up so much today. This after-hours pop before it came in is another yearly high, and the company had a $376 million market cap as of the close. This stock, if it meets the $0.14 estimate in 2007 without beating estimates, then it now trades at 100-times December 2007 fiscal EPS projections. He's been behind this one before (back on December 21 he called the next Hansen Natural [NASDAQ:HANS]), on more than one occasion.

Jon Ogg is a partner in 24/7 Wall St., LLC; he does not own securities in the companies he covers.

Cramer on a Quest and doing a Jones originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 19:31:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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