Dive Brief:

• Chiquita Brands posted a loss of $18 million, or 38 cents a share, in the third quarter, a sizeable improvement from the $67 million loss a year earlier, but well short of the 27 cents a share loss that analysts expected.
• Banana revenue rose slightly,despite a drop in volume sales in Europe. Salad and snack revenue was flat.
• The woes of Charlotte-based Chiquita are numerous. Bad weather, war in the Mideast and the costs of a new salad facility were all cited as hurting returns.

Dive Insight:

It's been just one year since Chiquita Brands hired turnaround specialist Ed Lonergan as CEO. Lonergan's much publicized strategy is to return the produce company to its core businesses, following nine years of diversification under predecessor Fernando Aguirre. Certainly Lonergan needs time to accomplish his goals. But investors are likely to get jumpy pretty fast if the company continues to fall short of analysts' forecasts.