Is KAL stock a Buy?

Vertical farming company Kalera Group (Kalera Group Stock Quote, Charts, News, Analysts, Financials NASDAQ:KAL) saw its share price sink in April on the announcement that the company had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on April 4 with the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

The company then received a delisting notice from the Nasdaq Stock Market that it would be delisted as of April 17, 2023. 

Kalera used proprietary technology and plant and seed science to sustainably grow salad greens. The company touts its cost efficiency along with the health and sustainability of its production methods, which used automated, data-driven hydroponic facilities to produce high-yield, cleaner and faster results compared to traditional methods.

Kalera had gone public through a SPAC on the Nasdaq on June 29, 2022, debuting shares at $14 and putting a value of $375 million on the company.

“We are solving a huge problem here, which is we are running out of farmland and our population is growing and we have climate change and so when you put those things together, we need new ways of growing food and Kalera’s technology is unrivalled in that sense,” said Kalera CMO Aric Nissen in a press release at the commencement of its public trading.

But KAL started dropping almost immediately and the company announced a reverse stock split this past December before deciding to halt production at its Orlando and Atlanta farms in an attempt to improve profitability. 

With its Chapter 11 announcement, Kalera CEO Jim Leighton stepped down as head and as board member and the company said it would use the court-supervised process to evaluate strategic alternatives for Kalera, including a potential sale of assets. 

“The Chapter 11 process will allow Kalera to continue operations and serve its existing customer base while it evaluates strategic alternatives for its business and assets,” said Mark Shapiro, Chief Restructuring Officer for Kalera PLC, in a press release.

Kalera released a cautionary statement at the time of the Chapter 11 announcement, saying, “We caution our equity holders that trading in our securities during the pendency of the Chapter 11 Case will be highly speculative and will pose additional, substantial risks in addition to the various risks that we have previously disclosed in our press releases, registration statements filed under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and periodic reports and schedules filed under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the ‘Exchange Act’).”