As the Q4 earnings season wraps, let’s dig into this quarter’s best and worst performers in the shelf-stable food industry, including SunOpta (NASDAQ:STKL) and its peers.

As America industrialized and moved away from an agricultural economy, people faced more demands on their time. Packaged foods emerged as a solution offering convenience to the evolving American family, whether it be canned goods or snacks. Today, Americans seek brands that are high in quality, reliable, and reasonably priced. Furthermore, there's a growing emphasis on health-conscious and sustainable food options. Packaged food stocks are considered resilient investments. People always need to eat, so these companies can enjoy consistent demand as long as they stay on top of changing consumer preferences. The industry spans from multinational corporations to smaller specialized firms and is subject to food safety and labeling regulations.

The 21 shelf-stable food stocks we track reported a mixed Q4. As a group, revenues were in line with analysts’ consensus estimates while next quarter’s revenue guidance was 0.5% above.

In light of this news, share prices of the companies have held steady. On average, they are relatively unchanged since the latest earnings results.

SunOpta (NASDAQ:STKL)

Committed to clean-label foods, SunOpta (NASDAQ:STKL) is a sustainability-focused food and beverage company specializing in the sourcing, processing, and packaging of organic products.

SunOpta reported revenues of $193.9 million, up 8.9% year on year. This print was in line with analysts’ expectations, but overall, it was a mixed quarter for the company with a solid beat of analysts’ EPS estimates but a significant miss of analysts’ gross margin estimates.

“We delivered another solid quarter led by double-digit volume growth reflecting broad strength across our portfolio,” said Brian Kocher, Chief Executive Officer of SunOpta.

The stock is down 24.1% since reporting and currently trades at $5.61.

Read our full report on SunOpta here, it’s free .

Best Q4: Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC)

Known for its frozen garlic bread and Parkerhouse rolls, Lancaster Colony (NASDAQ:LANC) sells bread, dressing, and dips to the retail and food service channels.

Lancaster Colony reported revenues of $509.3 million, up 4.8% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 2.8%. The business had a very strong quarter with an impressive beat of analysts’ EBITDA estimates.

Lancaster Colony scored the biggest analyst estimates beat among its peers. The market seems happy with the results as the stock is up 10.3% since reporting. It currently trades at $183.61.