Shares of Oxnard, CA-based Mission Produce Inc. BB #:118126 began trading on the Nasdaq Global Select Market Oct. 1.
Trading under the symbol AVO, the company’s shares opened at $12, which was lower than the expected $15-17 range. Shares went to as high as $15 during the day and closed at $13.80, with 7.5 million shares traded.
Chief Operating Officer Michael Browne said Oct. 1 that it’s been an exciting day for the company, and he looks forward to the investment in the company.
“We’re not going to change who we are and what we do,” he said Oct. 1. “We don’t have a roadmap. We’re going to continue to grow and lead the category.”
“This gives us the flexibility for growth, innovating the supply chain and expanding more around the world,” Browne said.
He said Mission Produce distributed 559 million pounds of avocados in 2019, which was 58 percent more than the closest competitor in terms of volume.
“We have a great tailwind as a category with great demand, but we have to build the supply side and this gives us more levers to control that,” Browne said.
He said the company is looking at developing export markets.
“We’re looking at growth in Europe and Asia, who are where we were about 20 years ago,” he said, referring to consumption trends in the U.S.
Browne said Mission has some year-round customers in Japan and Korea already, but European markets are more of a summer item so far.
Although there aren’t many fresh produce companies that are publicly listed, Mission’s competitors in avocado trading, Calavo Growers BB #:113203 and Fresh Del Monte Produce BB #:111187 are publicly traded, being listed on Nasdaq and the New York Stock Exchange, respectively.
Browne said it’s hard to compare Mission to others that are publicly traded, since Mission is solely focused on avocados and its size in the market.
