Tyson Foods Net Income Falls 47% In Quarter

Business

by Roby Brock ([email protected]) February 3, 2012 7:47 am 80 views 

Tyson Foods saw its first quarter net income fall 47% as a result of higher ingredient prices and challenging market conditions.

The Springdale-based protein giant reported quarterly net income of $156 million compared to $294 million one year ago. Diluted earnings per share fell to $0.42 compared to $0.78 in the previous year’s quarter.

Revenue for the first quarter climbed 9.4% higher to $8.3 billion.

“Even with higher feed ingredient costs, our chicken segment returned to profitability in the fiscal first quarter on improved pricing and execution,” said Donnie Smith, Tyson’s president and CEO. “Prepared foods had a strong performance, and the pork segment continued to produce outstanding results. Our beef segment is experiencing a rough patch as a result of challenging market fundamentals. Although we are still outperforming industry indexes, if current conditions continue, our Beef results will be pressured in our second quarter.”

A breakdown of segment profitability included:

  • Chicken operating income $32 million, or 1.2% of sales
  • Beef operating income $31 million, or 0.9% of sales
  • Pork operating income $165 million, or 11.2% of sales
  • Prepared Foods operating income $51 million, or 5.9% of sales

Tyson Foods shares (NYSE: TSN) closed trading Thursday at $18.62. The company’s stock has traded between a low of $15.60 per share and a high of $21.06 per share during the last 52 weeks.

UPDATE: Tyson also held its annual shareholders’ meeting today. Kim Souza with The City Wire reports that CEO Donnie Smith said “the turnaround is done, now it’s time to turn it on.”

You can read more at this link.