Dive Brief:
- Hormel Foods reported fourth quarter earnings, which included a 6% decline in sales and 2% drop in volume.
- Operating profit and volume were up for the grocery products, refrigerated foods, and specialty foods segments, though sales dropped for refrigerated and specialty foods.
- Jennie-O Turkey Store took another hit this past quarter due to the impact of the bird flu outbreak on the brand's turkey supply. Jennie-O reported operating profit decreased 23%, while volume was down 21% and dollar sales dropped 18%.
Dive Insight:
For fiscal year 2015, non-GAAP adjusted net earnings hit a record $714.4 million, a 19% boost over $602.7 million last year. For the year, the company also reported profit of $686.1 million, or $2.54 per share, while revenue came in at $9.26 billion.
"[Hormel] perceives that lower input costs, weakening impact of Avian Influenza, higher Applegate sales, increased demand for Muscle Milk, Spam and Skippy products would all help in augmenting its revenues and earnings in fiscal 2016," according to Zacks.
Profits continue to rise for Hormel, as they also were last quarter for various segments.