Hormel stock sinks as shoppers look for protein elsewhere

Turkey troubles haunted Hormel Foods this spring, and the Minnesota company’s stock dropped nearly 10% Thursday as a result.

The Austin, Minn.-based company behind Spam, Jennie-O turkey and Planters beat Wall Street expectations for its most recent quarter. However, investors couldn’t stomach declining retail sales as consumers balked at higher prices and bought fewer turkeys.

“We expect this business to remain challenged for the rest of the fiscal year,” CEO Jim Snee said Thursday about its turkey unit.

Piper Sandler analyst Michael Lavery explained the company “is pricing birds at a significant discount to year-ago levels, and it does not expect prices to improve.”

Hormel profits fell 13% to $189 million in the fiscal quarter that ended in April compared to the same period a year ago. Sales dropped 3% to $2.8 billion.

Company executives downplayed the tough quarter by highlighting a “strong first half” of its fiscal year. Hormel also raised the lower end of its earnings guidance for the rest of the year, though already there have been challenges.

A Planters facility in Virginia recently went offline for five weeks and won’t be back to full production until this summer, which will ding earnings for the current quarter.

“We have confidence that our business will keep moving in the right direction,” Snee said.

Meanwhile, the company has boosted advertising spending 27% year-over-year, well above a more typical 5% increase, as a part of Hormel’s pitch to inflation-weary consumers.

“We believe this is the right approach, and elevated ad spending levels are set to continue,” Lavery wrote Thursday.

CFRA analyst Arun Sundaram advises holding Hormel stock, with “solid top- and bottom-line growth” expected this fall.