Tyson Foods Misses Q3 Views, Shares Tumble

Shares of

dipped over 7 percent in pre-market trading after the company reported weaker-than-expected earnings for its fiscal third quarter and lowered its FY15 forecast. The Springdale, Arkansas-based company posted quarterly net income of $344 million, or $0.83 per share, compared to $258 million, or $0.73 per share, in the year-ago quarter. Its adjusted earnings came in at $0.80 per share. Its sales climbed to $10.07 billion from $9.68 billion. However, analysts were expecting earnings of $0.92 per share on revenue of $10.3 billion. The average estimate among 9 Estimize users was for earnings of $0.95 per share and revenue of $10.25 billion. Its adjusted operating income climbed 40 percent to $568 million in the quarter. Chicken segment operating margin came in at 11.4 percent for the quarter, while Prepared Foods segment adjusted operating margin came in at 10.9 percent. "The Prepared Foods and Chicken segments performed very well in the fiscal third quarter while managing numerous challenges," said Donnie Smith, president and chief executive officer of Tyson Foods. "The strong results in these two segments demonstrate the benefits of our branded, value-added product portfolio and multi-channel, multi-protein business model by partially offsetting soft results in the Beef and Pork segments." The company now expects FY15 adjusted earnings of $3.10 to $3.20 per share, versus earlier forecast of $3.30 to $3.40 per share. For fiscal 2016, the company projects domestic protein production to rise around 3 percent year-over-year. Tyson shares fell 7.53 percent to $41.01 in pre-market trading.