Austin, Minnesota-based Hormel Meals Company (HRL) is a number one producer in addition to marketer of assorted meat and meals merchandise. It develops and distributes numerous meat, nuts, and different meals merchandise to retail, foodservice, and industrial prospects. With a market cap of $12.4 billion, Hormel Meals operates in numerous nations throughout the globe by its Retail, Foodservice, and Worldwide segments.
The packaged meals main has considerably underperformed the broader market over the previous yr. Hormel Meals’ inventory costs have plummeted 29% on a YTD foundation and 26.7% over the previous 52 weeks, in comparison with the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) 16.5% beneficial properties in 2025 and 14.5% returns over the previous yr.
Narrowing the main target, Hormel Meals has additionally underperformed the First Belief Nasdaq Meals & Beverage ETF’s (FTXG) 7.9% decline on a YTD foundation and 12.3% drop over the previous yr.
Hormel Meals’ inventory costs tanked 13.1% in a single buying and selling session following the discharge of its blended Q3 outcomes on Aug. 28. The corporate noticed robust natural progress throughout its segments, resulting in a strong 4.6% year-over-year progress in general web gross sales to $3 billion, beating the Road’s expectations by 1.9%. Nevertheless, the corporate’s earnings efficiency has remained grim. Because of a steep rise in commodity enter prices, the corporate’s adjusted EPS declined by 5% year-over-year to $0.35, lacking the consensus estimates by 14.6%, making traders jittery.
For the complete fiscal 2025, resulted in October, analysts anticipate HRL to ship an adjusted EPS of $1.37, down 13.3% year-over-year. The corporate has a lackluster earnings shock historical past. Whereas it met the Road’s bottom-line estimates as soon as over the previous 4 quarters, it has missed the projections on three different events.
Among the many 10 analysts overlaying the inventory, the consensus score is a “Maintain.” That’s primarily based on three “Robust Buys,” six “Holds,” and one “Robust Promote.”
This configuration is barely completely different from three months in the past, when two analysts gave “Robust Purchase” suggestions and not one of the analysts urged “Robust Promote” scores.
