Bernstein Raises PT On Hillshire Amid M&A Talks

Bernstein analyst Alexia Howard raised the price target on Hillshire Brands HSH from $55.00 to $60.00 following continued merger and acquisition discussions.

Howard sees Tyson Foods TSN as the “likely victor” for a deal in the $60.00 range. The analyst remarked that Tyson would see higher synergies over Pilgrim's Pride PPC due to the company's large pork exposure overlap with Hillshire.
Bernstein added that Pilgrim's Pride's parent company, JBS, has larger run-rate cost synergies than expected at $300 million.

Related Link: Survey: Who Will Win The Hillshire Bidding War?

The analyst reported a $55.00 per share cash deal would be $0.66 accretive with $300 million in synergies. Bernstein added that a bid of $65.00 per share may be $0.52 accretive, but the bid would likely be too high.

Howard commented that further M&A discussions “are likely to be behind closed doors from here.”

On Tuesday, Pilgrim's Pride confirmed the proposal to acquire Hillshire for $55 per share in cash.

Shares of Hillshire closed at $58.65 on Tuesday. The stock is currently trading at $59.30, up 1.108 percent.