Key takeaways from Tyson Foods’ (TSN) Q4 2024 earnings report

Shares of Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN) jumped over 8% on Tuesday after the company delivered better-than-expected earnings results for the fourth quarter of 2024. Revenue and earnings beat estimates, with the results benefiting from strength in beef and chicken. The stock has gained 18% year-to-date. Here are the key takeaways from the earnings report:

Sales and earnings beat expectations

Tyson’s sales increased 1.6% year-over-year to $13.6 billion in Q4 2024, beating expectations of $13.4 billion. The company posted GAAP earnings of $1.00 per share in Q4 compared to a loss of $1.31 per share last year. Adjusted EPS more than doubled to $0.92, beating estimates of $0.69.

Business performance

In Q4, sales in the beef segment increased 5% YoY to $5.2 billion, while sales in the chicken segment rose 2% to $4.2 billion. Sales for pork, Prepared Foods, and International/Other all witnessed declines.

Volumes for beef and pork rose 3.7% and 3.2%, respectively in Q4 while chicken and Prepared Foods saw declines in volume of 0.7% and 1.4%, respectively. International/Other saw volume rise by 1.3%. Average sales price for pork fell 6.9% while for International/Other, it fell 5.5%. Beef, chicken, and Prepared Foods saw increases in price.

Adjusted operating income (AOI) for the chicken segment was the highest at $356 million followed by Prepared Foods at $205 million. AOI for pork was $19 million while for International/Other, it was $3 million.

Adjusted operating margin for the chicken and Prepared Foods segments were the highest at 8.4% and 8.3%, respectively. The pork segment achieved adjusted operating margin of 1.3%.

Outlook

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) anticipates an increase in domestic protein production during fiscal year 2025 compared to fiscal year 2024. USDA projects domestic production for beef to decrease approx. 2% in FY2025 compared to the previous year. Domestic production for pork is expected to increase approx. 2%, while for chicken it is projected to increase 3%.

Tyson expects sales to be down 1% to flat in FY2025 compared to FY2024. Total adjusted operating income is expected to range between $1.8-2.2 billion for the year.

For the beef segment, the company anticipates an adjusted operating loss of $0.4 billion to $0.2 billion. In the pork segment, AOI is expected to be $0.1-0.2 billion. AOI for chicken is projected to be $1.0-1.2 billion while for Prepared Foods, it is expected to be $0.9-1.1 billion.