What Happened?
Shares of plant-based food and beverage company SunOpta (NASDAQ: STKL) jumped 31.8% in the morning session after the company agreed to be acquired by beverage solutions provider Refresco for $6.50 per share in cash.
The deal, which was unanimously approved by SunOpta's board, valued the plant-based food supplier at approximately $798 million. This acquisition was set to take the Eden Prairie-based company private. Refresco, a Dutch beverage giant backed by KKR, intended for the purchase to significantly expand its capabilities in the fast-growing plant-based beverages category.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
SunOpta’s shares are very volatile and have had 23 moves greater than 5% over the last year. But moves this big are rare even for SunOpta and indicate this news significantly impacted the market’s perception of the business.
The biggest move we wrote about over the last year was 9 months ago when the stock gained 26.8% on the news that the company reported strong first quarter 2025 results which significantly beat analysts' revenue, EPS, and EBITDA expectations, and included a raise to full-year revenue guidance. Revenue rose 10% as more people bought its drinks, snacks, and broth, even though the company cut prices a bit and left one category behind. Overall, we think this was a solid quarter with some key metrics above expectations.
SunOpta is up 72.4% since the beginning of the year, but at $6.40 per share, it is still trading 16.3% below its 52-week high of $7.64 from February 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of SunOpta’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $400.44.
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