Tyson Foods beats Q3 earnings estimates; revenues fall short

Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) beat earnings expectations for the third quarter of 2019 but revenue missed the mark. Shares were up 0.38% in premarket hours on Monday.

Total revenue grew 8% year-over-year to $10.8 billion but missed the consensus estimate of $11.05 billion.

Net income attributable to Tyson rose 25% to $676 million, or $1.84 per share, compared to the prior-year quarter. Adjusted EPS fell 2% to $1.47, but beat forecasts of $1.43.

During the quarter, Tyson saw sales increases in its beef, pork and chicken segments. The Prepared Foods segment saw a slight dip in sales. Sales volumes rose in the beef, pork and chicken segments helped by higher supply of cattle and hogs and incremental volume from business acquisitions. Sales volumes in the Prepared Foods segment fell mainly due to business divestitures.

Average sales prices increased in the beef, pork and the Prepared Foods segments due to strong demand for beef products, higher live hog costs, and product mix. Average sales price in chicken decreased due to sales mix.  

For the full year of 2019, Tyson expects sales of approx. $43 billion. Adjusted EPS is expected to be $5.75-6.10. For fiscal year 2020, the company expects sales to grow approx. 6-7% to around $45-46 billion.

For fiscal year 2020, USDA indicates domestic protein production – beef, pork, chicken and turkey –  should increase approx. 2% from 2019 levels, but Tyson expects export markets to absorb the increased production. The USDA also projects a less than 1% increase in chicken production in 2020 versus 2019.

In beef, Tyson expects industry-fed cattle supplies to increase about 2% in 2020 versus 2019. In pork, industry hog supplies are anticipated to grow about 2-3% in 2020 compared to 2019. In Prepared Foods, Tyson expects raw material costs to increase during 2020 versus 2019, but the company believes it will be able to recover the increased raw material costs through pricing.

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