Willamette Valley Vineyards Inc. Series A Redeemable Preferred Stock (WVVIP) fair value

ACCE thesis

Willamette Valley Vineyards is an Oregon winery whose Series A Redeemable Preferred is a small, illiquid security sitting behind a commercial business with shrinking sales and a loss-making operating line. Revenue fell 1.6% and the operating margin is negative 13.5%, against a gross margin of 59.1%, so the brand and pricing hold up but overhead and tasting-room costs are swamping them. The growth story here is thin: any recovery depends on tasting-room and direct-to-consumer volumes stabilizing and on management cutting costs fast enough to reach operating breakeven. The reason to look is the preferred's structure rather than the common equity's momentum, since a redeemable preferred's value rests on the issuer's ability to honor redemption and dividend terms. With a market cap of about $22M and a trailing P/E of 19.8 that conflicts with negative ROE, the numbers are noisy enough that the filings, not the screen, should drive any decision. A score of 28/100 puts it firmly in the bottom tier, so this is a name to examine closely or pass on, not one to size up.