AgTech stock Deveron has a 193 per cent upside, says Roth Capital

Roth Capital Partners likes the news coming from Canadian AgTech stock Deveron Corp (Deveron Stock Quote, Charts, News, Analysts, Financials TSXV:FARM), with the company just announcing a new strategic cost optimization plan. In a Flash Note to clients on Thursday, Roth analyst Brian Wright reiterated a “Buy” rating on Deveron, saying that trimming some fat after a couple of years of acquisitions make good sense.

Deveron, which offers data acquisition and analytics services including data analysis for farm inputs and soil testing for the North American market, announced the cost optimization program on Thursday, saying it plans on focusing its efforts on the North American soil testing market as well as synergies coming from recent acquisitions.

“Over the last 24 months, we have acquired ten companies with various skill sets and regional presences,” said David MacMillan, President and CEO, in a press release. “We are realigning our strategy to focus on owning the end-to-end soil testing market. By creating a digitally enabled and unique user experience, we can offer our customers the best solution to providing reliable and independent soil analysis. This renewed focus on integrating the businesses will positively impact our 2023 financial performance.”

Looking at the news, Wright said the selective headcount reductions are focused primarily on engineering, product researchers and some middle management layers, with likely about $3 million in annualized cost savings and a resulting flow to the company’s bottom line. 

Wright said the reductions won’t impact customer couching aspects of Deveron’s business.

“It’s important to note that headcount reductions will not impact any customer couching aspects of the business. All R&D activities are to be focused on increasing collection volume productivity and soil sampling throughput metrics and thus drive growth and profitability enhancements,” Wright said.

“We view the decision as prudent for a number of reasons. First, it signals that the team is focused on profitable growth. Second, management is prioritizing its resources on functions that are customer facing and that drive growth. Lastly, leaner organizations more effectively row in sync,” he said.

On the path ahead, Wright thinks Deveron will finish 2022 with $27.2 million in revenue compared to $8.6 million in 2021 and moving to $43.0 million for 2023. On EBITDA, he is calling for negative $5.4 million in 2022 and moving to positive $5.3 million in 2023. Deveron’s EPS is forecasted to go from negative $0.07 per share in 2021 to negative $0.13 per share in 2022 and to negative $0.06 per share in 2023. 

With his “Buy” rating, Wright reiterated a $1.20 target price, representing at press time a projected one-year return of 193 per cent.