Dole Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates On Higher Fresh Fruit Pricing Worldwide - Dole (NYSE:DOLE)

Dole Plc's DOLE first-quarter FY23 sales inched up by 1% year-on-year to $1.99 billion, missing the consensus of $2.19 billion.
The global leader in fresh produce registered an adjusted EPS of $0.34, beating the analyst consensus of $0.18. Adjusted EPS in the year-ago period was $0.43.
Quarterly revenues grew Y/Y on higher worldwide pricing and volumes of bananas and pineapples, bolstering the Fresh Fruit and Diversified EMEA segments.
However, in February, Dole experienced a cybersecurity incident identified as ransomware, which dragged the company's Fresh Vegetables and Chilean businesses in particular. Direct costs related to the incident were $10.5 million, of which $4.8 million related to continuing operations.
Segments: Fresh Fruit grew 6.5% to $798.91 million, Diversified Fresh Produce – EMEA rose 0.9% to $798.10 million, Diversified Fresh Produce – Americas & ROW fell 8.8% to $422.75 million.
Adjusted EBITDA jumped 9.3% to $100.4 million.
Gross profit rose 17.9% Y/Y to $179.04 million with a margin of 9%.
Operating income for the quarter rose 44.5% to $ 62.13 million.
The company held ~$272 million in cash and equivalents as of March 31, 2023. Net Debt was $1 billion.
"During the quarter, we announced an agreement to sell our Fresh Vegetables division to Fresh Express," said Carl McCann, Executive Chairman. "We are continuing to work through the regulatory process for the sale of this business."
Dividend: The company declared a cash dividend for Q1 of $0.08 per share, payable on July 6, 2023, to shareholders of record on June 16, 2023.
Outlook: Dole continues to expect Adjusted EBITDA from continuing operations of $350.0 million for FY23.
Price Action: DOLE shares are trading higher by 8.34% at $12.93 on the last check Thursday.

Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs