Food Earnings Update: Hain Celestial Showing Progress, Tyson Impacted By Global Uncertainty

Food companies are on deck to release their fourth-quarter earnings report and so far there are two notable updates worthy of investors' attention.

Hain Celestial HAIN Earnings: Progress In Right-Sizing

Hain Celestial Group Inc HAIN reported last week fiscal second-quarter results which show progress in management's plan to right-size itself. CEO Mark Schiller explained during the post-earnings conference call it has divested seven businesses and expects further asset sales to be completed in the future.

Other non-core brands that aren't attractive to a buyer or show no clear path to profitability will "likely" be shut down, the CEO.

On the production side of the food business, the company consolidated manufacturing sites, office locations, and shipping locations, the CEO also said. Hain also combined five different sales teams into just one and ended relationships with more than 30 brokers in the U.S. and more than 30 co-manufacturers.

Meanwhile, the company is focusing on bolstering its innovation pipeline with products that "solve consumer problems and will expand their categories."

Finally, the CEO said the impact of these initiatives "are just beginning to show up" in results and will be "more evident" in the back half of the year.

Tyson Foods TSN Earnings: Tariffs And Coronavirus Concerns

Tyson Foods, Inc. TSN also reported quarterly results last week and CEO Noel White said the coronavirus could prove to be a "headwind."& The company continues to see strong "interest" for protein products in China and the coronavirus "has just clouded" demand a bit.

Estimating when the impact from the coronavirus will ease is "not possible at this point," the CEO said. But once that does happen, there will be "very strong demand" in China.

Meanwhile, the signing of the phase one U.S.-China trade deal has resulted in an increase in orders from Chinese consumers, the CEO said. But there are still tariffs in place that put U.S. companies at a pricing disadvantage in China.

"If tariffs are lifted or reduced, we would likely see an acceleration of already increased global demand for U.S. pork, beef and chicken," he said.

Related Links:

Asian Markets Mixed As Coronavirus Cases Rise To Over 40K

Benzinga's Bulls And Bears Of The Week: Apple, Comcast, GE, Netflix And More