From my perspective, what I am looking for is some consistency..
I want to see 3 -4 quarters of solid operational numbers with no special items, acquisition costs etc to show me that the underlying business model is solid. At the moment every quarter seems to have a special item. Also I have no clear view on the total market size and their market share.. This is important to know where this company can go.. They must know who their competitors are and can then derive some market statistics.
Company needs to now focus on finding synergies and extracting real value out of the acquisitions they have done rather than doing more.. I think this is the clear message from the share price drop.. Also cash is tight (though I think they still have loan facilities and the key backers have deep pockets if there was a cashflow squeeze) and putting the company in a cash squeeze constantly is not good long term business practice.
The OchFolio product thing was always a goal of the company and the fact that the vendors took HRL stock shows their commitment to the big picture so this is definitely not negative.
So having patience with the company is one thing but they need to now focus on showing us all they have a solid, growing business (what percentage of their growth now is organic?) and that there is a reward at the end of this.
Lastly their investor relations is pretty poor. I know the Top 20 probably still speaks for 70%+ of the stock but they need to do better here especially if they need to raise again in the future.
At the moment I am in a wait and see pattern before I purchase more. I suspect if they get their house in order this will turn out being a very cheap buy but I have seen companies like this go either way.. What is a bit different here is the stock is still wrapped up pretty tightly with pretty smart business people that could dip into their pockets if need be.
HRL Price at posting:
8.8¢ Sentiment: Hold Disclosure: Held
