Diamond Foods, Inc. F1Q09 (Qtr End 10/31/08) Earnings Call Transcript

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2008-12-03 16:08:14.0

Tags: Call Transcript, Earnings, Diamond Foods Inc., Sales Strategy, Sales Force Management, Strategy, Sales, Management, Seeking Alpha

Question-and-Answer Session

Operator

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Heather Jones - BB&T Capital Markets

Heather Jones - BB&T Capital Markets

Just looking at your culinary segment here and it did very well, it was very strong relative to our estimate and year-over-year, and I was wondering if you wouldn’t mind putting a little color to that for me.

Michael Mendes

I think that there’s some macro trends that I think are favorable for us right now in that culinary segment. I think as people are looking for more in-home meal preparation our culinary line is very well positioned to capitalize in that trend.

Also we have a very well developed brand and we believe some very strong merchandising which we’ve been working on improving and I think that those are some of the trends that have helped support the business. But we are pleased with our performance in the quarter there.

Heather Jones - BB&T Capital Markets

As far as the walnut harvest coming in rather large, what do you anticipate for pricing at the retail level, do you see that maybe coming down along with the walnut crop?

Michael Mendes

As far as the walnut crop, the harvest is just winding up now. The actual state, final numbers get reported in January so at that time we’d have knowledge of the full crop size so it’s a little preliminary to make that estimate and then we’ll also have better knowledge of other tree nut crops that compete in the macroeconomic environment with walnuts.

I think that being said, I think that generally with tree nuts we’re seeing probably in the back half of the year, some price reductions reflecting the overall larger supply. I would say that the nature of the culinary and snack nut business, culinary in particular, the biggest demand and the biggest sales take place in the fall. Most of that product needs to be positioned in the supply chain in July and August in order to service that business.

So you wouldn’t see any impact of any commodity price adjustments probably until the second half of our fiscal year.

Heather Jones - BB&T Capital Markets

Just watching Pop Secret as well as your new products initially, is it too early to tell kind of what these items will do to your long-term sales growth goals as far as moving that range and then are you still comfortable with your accretion guidance for Pop Secret?

 

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