Jones Soda, Oh The Huge Manatee!
I have friend that works at Jones and he mentioned something the other day about their stock getting slaughtered so I looked it up.
Yeah, that's pretty bad. 45% in just 10 days. Especially that one waterfall on the 11th.
So I zoomed out a bit to see what the overall trend is.
Wow. The Seattlest has an informative article about the latest downward move.
I guess it isn't surprising for a company that makes expensive novelty soda to get hammered like this as we enter a consumer-led recession, but so much so quickly and on a company whose main market is the PNW which is just barely joining the downturn? At this rate will Jones survive the recession?
Yeah, that's pretty bad. 45% in just 10 days. Especially that one waterfall on the 11th.
So I zoomed out a bit to see what the overall trend is.
Wow. The Seattlest has an informative article about the latest downward move.
The Seattlest wrote:Local drink maker Jones Soda lost more than $10 million during the fourth quarter of last year, according to the PI.
SeattlePI wrote:For the quarter ended Dec. 31, the company posted a 39-cent-per-share loss -- 13 times the 3-cent loss that analysts were expecting. During the same period a year ago, the company posted net income of $2 million, or 8 cents a share.
I guess it isn't surprising for a company that makes expensive novelty soda to get hammered like this as we enter a consumer-led recession, but so much so quickly and on a company whose main market is the PNW which is just barely joining the downturn? At this rate will Jones survive the recession?
Comments
I noticed some jones soda gum the other day. Of course my daughter wanted to get it, but I said no because it was too full of sugar.
I say ditch the sugar, Jones.
They use sugar instead of corn syrup. Many people would argue this is a vast improvement, as high fructose corn syrup appears to give a bigger sugar buzz while not satiating the appetite. Additionally, I prefer sugared pop to the diet soda, which is sweetened in all sorts of funny ways.
If you can't have the sugar (dieting or medical reasons), you should be drinking water or tea instead.
I think their problems have little to do with the economy, and more to do with them trying to expand too fast. On my road trip to the other corner of the country back in December/January, I saw Jones on the shelf all the way down in Florida and Alabama.
Plus they've seriously expanded their product line, moving from just bottled sodas to canned, gum, and other random products, and will be adding a plain old cola line as well. Making the transition from local niche brand to national competitor is hecka expensive, as they're discovering. I hope it doesn't put them under.
That's probably true. At least that's what the Seattlest thinks, but if it is true it might actually make things even worse. If they're already getting hit hard due to expanding to fast, what's going to happen when the slowing economy kicks them when they're down? How do novelty soft drink companies do during recessions?
You can pick up Mexican Coke w/cane sugar at a few places around here. 24 pack (in bottles) at Costco for one. A good bit cheaper than Jones IIRC.
You can buy Imperial Dr. Pepper which is guaranteed to have 100% cane sugar.
http://www.olddocs.com/results.aspx?cat ... =Dr+Pepper
It's too bad about the expansion problems though. My friend was hoping to get transferred to Denver, but that looks less likely now. It's good for me though because I don't want them to move away.