Packaged Foods & Meats

Hershey Company (NYSE: HSY) announces its next round of earnings this Tuesday, July 26, 2011. Here's Benzinga's advanced look at Hershey's second quarter earnings report. Earnings and Revenue: Analysts are looking ahead to a positive EPS reading of 54 cents per share and revenues of $1.27 billion...

MegaMex Foods LLC, a joint venture between Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL) and Herdez Del Fuerte, S.A. de C.V., today announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire 100 percent of Fresherized Foods. Fresherized Foods produces Wholly Guacamole®, Wholly Salsa® and Wholly Queso...

Stocks trading at or near 52-week highs and lows provide excellent trading opportunities, as volatility tends to increase at such levels. The following stocks hit new 52-week highs in Wednesdays's trading session (listed from highest total volume to lowest): 1) Nalco Holding (NYSE: NLC): Shares...

Goldman Sachs is out with its report today on The Mosaic Co. (NYSE: MOS), maintaining Neutral. In a note to clients, Goldman Sachs writes, "MOS reported 4Q11 EPS of $1.52 vs. GS/consensus of $1.44/$1.38, driven by stronger potash (K) volumes and margins and in-line Phosphate (P) results. MOS also...

Direxion Daily Semiconductor Bull 3X Shares (NYSE: SOXL) led the gainers among the ETFs on Tuesday, with an increase of 9.90%. SOXL closed at $41.08, and it had a volume of 529K traded shares. Direxion Daily Technology Bull 3x Shares (ETF) (NYSE: TYH) jumped 8.12% on the strength in the technology...

By 10:20 am, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 140.36 points, or 1.13%, to 12,525.52, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500 index had gained 14.55 points, or 1.11%. The NASDAQ composite index rose 48.57 points, or 1.76%. Some of the narrow based indexes that are still afloat in the...

Zhongpin Inc. (Nasdaq: HOGS) today announced that it will host a conference call and live webcast at 8:00 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (New York) on July 19, 2011 (which is 8:00 p.m. in China on the same day). The conference call will address investors' concerns regarding the recent volatility of the...

Pharmaceutical Product Development Inc (NASDAQ: PPDI) shares surged 16.04% to $32.33 at 10:32 am. The volume of PPDI shares traded was 568% higher than normal. According to The Wall Street Journal, PPDI is exploring a sale. Check Point Software Technologies Ltd (NASDAQ: CHKP) shares moved up 2.58...

Zhongpin (NASDAQ: HOGS) is down today on this report, according to this tweet by @markflowchatter. The story's headline reads "China to release some pork reserves to fight inflation."

Shares of Ralcorp Holdings (NYSE: RAH) are lower on the session by 1.94%, trading at $84.94. Overall call volume is now running at 2.57x the daily average, with 32% of all calls traded being purchases on the offer. 1,681 contracts have traded on the session so far. Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. is...

Analysts at JP Morgan downgraded TeleCommunication Systems (NASDAQ: TSYS) from “overweight” to “neutral.” TSYS' stock closed at $5.20 yesterday. TSYS' trailing-twelve-month profit margin is 3.33%. Analysts at KeyBanc Capital markets downgraded Petrohawk Energy Corp (NYSE: HK) from “buy” to “hold...

Deutsche Bank is downgrading shares of Diamond Foods (NASDAQ: DMND) from Buy to Hold, but is keeping its $76 price target. In a note to clients, Deutsche Bank writes, "Although we believe in the strategic logic behind the Pringles acquisition and management's entrepreneurial approach to the snack...

Deutsche Bank has downgraded Diamond Foods (NASDAQ: DMND) from Buy to Hold and maintains its $76 price target.

Ralcorp (NYSE: RAH) is down 4% in after hours on a lower guidance that was announced after the close. The company sees Q3 EPS of $1.13-1.18 vs. $1.37 estimate. Ralcorp shares are currently trading at $83, a loss of 4.18%

Ralcorp Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: RAH) today announced that, based upon information currently available, the Company expects that diluted earnings per share for the third quarter will be between $0.85 and $0.90. Excluding $0.24 of reductions related to economic hedges and $0.04 of reductions related...