Diamond Foods 4Q Profit Rises 60 Percent

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Nut seller Diamond Foods said Wednesday its fiscal fourth-quarter profit rose 60 percent as sales grew slightly and it integrated Pop Secret into its operations.

The company also raised its profit expectation for fiscal 2010. It now expects to earn profit of $1.70 to $1.80 per share, up from an earlier forecast of $1.55 to $1.70 per share.

San Francisco-based Diamond Foods Inc. sells mixed nuts, glazed nuts and other kinds of nuts under the Diamond and Emerald brands.

It earned $4.2 million, or 25 cents per share, in the three months that ended July 31. That is up from the $2.6 million, or 16 cents per share, it earned a year earlier.

The quarterly profit beat a forecast of analysts polled by Thomson Reuters of 18 cents per share.

Revenue rose by less than a percent to $113.8 million in the quarter from $113.1 million. Analysts had expected $113.9 million.

For the full fiscal year, Diamond's profit rose 61 percent to $23.7 million, or $1.44 per share, from $14.8 million, or 91 cents per share, in 2008. Adjusted profit was $1.47 per share, beating a $1.38 per share estimate of analysts.

Yearly revenue rose 7.4 percent to $570.9 million from $531.5 million.

Diamond shares fell 42 cents to $31.30 in aftermarket trading after closing Wednesday at $31.72 with a 97-cent gain.