-- Tyson Foods' (TSN) fiscal second-quarter results surpassed Wall Street's expectations, lifted by price and volume gains in the chicken and prepared foods segments.
Sales in the three months ended March 28 increased 4.4% to $13.65 billion from a year earlier, topping the FactSet consensus of $13.63 billion. Adjusted per-share earnings fell to $0.87 from $0.92 a year earlier, still exceeding the Street's $0.78 estimate.
Tyson continues to expect sales to increase by 2% to 4% in fiscal 2026. Analysts are looking for sales of $56.51 billion, compared with the previous year's $54.44 billion.
The company now anticipates full-year adjusted operating income to be $2.2 billion to $2.4 billion, compared with its previous forecast of $2.1 billion to $2.3 billion.
Tyson's stock rose 2.6% in Monday trading. The shares have climbed 11% this year.
"We see continued evidence that chicken will be a preferred protein in the upcoming year, and we also expect our operational execution and performance to continue at a high level," Chief Financial Officer Curt Calaway said during an earnings call, according to a FactSet transcript.
"Based on the continuation of tight cattle supply, we expect segment operating income in beef to be a loss between $500 million and $350 million," Calaway said. "This outlook reflects the current view of cattle availability and spread conditions, partially offset by the footprint actions we implemented in the second quarter and the operating discipline we have underway."
Chicken sales in the second quarter increased to $4.29 billion from $4.14 billion as the average price rose 1.8%, while volume grew 1.7%. Prepared-food sales advanced to $2.51 billion from $2.4 billion, with the average price increasing 4.4% and volume rising 0.4%.
Beef revenue rose to $5.21 billion from almost $5.20 billion, with the average price up 11.5%, while volume decreased by 13%. Pork sales increased to $1.58 billion from $1.24 billion as the average price gained 1.3%, and volume climbed 4.4%.
The chicken segment's operating margin improved to 11.8% in the second quarter from 8.9%. Margins for prepared foods edged higher to 13.9% from 13.7%.
Beef's operating margin was negative 4.6% compared with negative 4.3% a year earlier, while the pork segment's operating margin improved to 2.6% from negative 14.5%.
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