NEW YORK, NY – Limoneira shares were up 5% to $25.50 in after hours trading on Tuesday.

These gains came after Limoneira released its Q3 and nine months FY 2014 financial results.  The company increased its full year operating income guidance to between $12.6 million and $13.7 million from its previous forecast of $10.6 million to $11.8 million.  The company also raised its earnings per share range to between $0.57 and $0.62 from its previous $0.45 and $0.50 per diluted share.

Limoneira also saw third quarter revenue increase 22% over last year, an increase of 40% in third quarter lemon sales over last year and a decrease in long-term debt by $8.9 million in the third quarter.

In its analysis, TheStreet highlights that Limoneira’s revenue growth has slightly outpaced the industry average of 3.1% and that the company’s net operating cash flow has significantly increased 1412.20% to $6.77 million when compared to the same quarter last year.

The improved outlook comes from a continuation of higher lemon prices.  Because of this, TheStreet Ratings team rates Limoneira as a Buy, saying, "We rate LIMONEIRA CO (LMNR) a BUY. This is driven by a number of strengths, which we believe should have a greater impact than any weaknesses, and should give investors a better performance opportunity than most stocks we cover. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, good cash flow from operations, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, increase in stock price during the past year and notable return on equity. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had sub par growth in net income."

As of 12:25 pm ET today, Limoneira stock is up $0.59, representing a 2.43% increase. 

Congratulations on the stock gains, Limoneira!

Limoneira