Diamond Foods Inc. Beats Q4 Views; Gross Margin Narrows

Diamond Foods,Inc. (NASDAQ: DMND) shares gained in the extended session Thursday after fiscal fourth-quarter results beat analysts expectations on a sharply narrower net loss.The San Francisco snack and nut producer forecast fiscal 2015 earnings of $0.90 to $1.10 a share, versus Wall Street's expectation of $1.20 a share.In the recent period, gross profit fell to 22.5 percent of sales, from 26.6 percent last year, on higher "tree nut cost" and logistics expenses.Diamond's net loss in the first period narrowed to $1.9 million, or $0.06 cents a share, from $143.7 million or $6.56 a share in the year-earlier period. Adjusted income grew to $6.16 million, or $0.19 cents a share, from $2.34 million, or $0.10 cents a share a year earlier.Sales grew 9 percent to $219.4 million from $199.8 million a year earlier.Wall Street expected adjusted earnings of $0.15 cents a share on revenue of $208.4 million.Snack sales increased 11 percent to $130.1 million while nuts increased 7.5 percent to $88.9 million.Diamond changed hands recently after hours at $28.10 a share, up 5.6 percent.