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Hormel Foods Closes Sale of Meat Brand, Farming Operations

Premium meat products company, Hormel Foods Corporation HRL finally completed the sale of its Saag’s and Farmer John meat brands, along with its three farming operations, to the pork giant – Smithfield Foods, Inc. (Smithfield) – against cash worth $145 million, adjusted for working capital. This move is in sync with the company’s ongoing corporate growth strategy.

Over the last one month, Hormel’s shares recorded a return of 3.02%, as against 5.66% return provided by the Zacks categorized Food-Meat Products industry. Shares of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) stock have been performing in line with the Zacks categorized Consumer Staples sector.

The Deal in Details

Saag’s and Farmer John meat brands were previously owned by Clougherty Packing, LLC. The three farms (located in California, Arizona, and Wyoming) belonged to PFFJ, LLC. Both Clougherty Packing, LLC. and PFFJ, LLC. are subsidiary business arms of Hormel.

The company had inked the divestiture deal with Smithfield in Nov 21, 2016.

Hormel stated that its Farmer John business harvested roughly 7,400 hogs each day. In fiscal 2016, the brand generated approximately $500 million revenue and earnings of 3 cents per share.  

However, Hormel sold its Farmer John and the above mentioned businesses for freeing up productive resources, which  would be eventually deployed to fortify the company’s food products’ business in the near term.

Stocks to Consider

Some better-ranked stocks within the industry are listed below:

B&G Foods, Inc. BGS currently boasts a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) and has recorded an average earnings surprise of 12.16% for the last four quarters. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Calavo Growers, Inc. CVGW also sports a Zacks Rank #1 and witnessed an average earnings surprise of 11.81% for the four trailing quarters.

Dean Foods Company DF, currently flaunting a Zacks Rank #1, has an average earnings surprise of 5.44% for the last four quarters.

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CALAVO GROWERS (CVGW): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
DEAN FOODS CO (DF): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
HORMEL FOODS CP (HRL): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
B&G FOODS CL-A (BGS): Free Stock Analysis Report
 
To read this article on Zacks.com click here.
 
Zacks Investment Research

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