Jones Soda Should Seek More Bids

SEATTLE (TheStreet) -- Jones Soda (JSDA) should be shopping for a better deal than the 30 cents per share offer that came in earlier this month from Big Red.

It's very likely that Jones stock could be worth much more -- the current offer places no value on the business, simply liquidation value alone, and I am convinced that $35 million in annual revenue is worth a significant amount to someone in the soda industry.

Jones, a Seattle based firm that markets soft drinks toward a premium market because of the use of real cane sugar as opposed to alternatives, disclosed after the market closed Dec. 21 that a cash offer had been made at 30 cents per share. As of Sept. 30, there were 26,454,729 shares outstanding. This is an offer for the entire business of around $8 million.

This offer comes from Big Red, which caters mainly to the Southern U.S. with a line of sporting markets, similar to PepsiCo's (PEP) Gatorade or Coca-Cola's (KO)Powerade.

Jones Soda stock price has been rising since the offer and recently traded at $0.48 or about a $12.4 million valuation, so the markets are pricing in a counteroffer or at least Jones shopping around for more bids.

A business doing more than $30 million a year in revenue must be worth more than the net current asset value, and potential acquirers should see benefits that they will see through distribution and shared employees that can perform functions for more than one company.

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