Start here if you're new
what it is
Hormel sells packaged meat, snacks, peanut butter, and pantry brands to grocery stores, restaurants, and overseas buyers.
how it gets paid
Last year Hormel Foods made $12.1B in revenue. retail was the main engine at $6.9B, or 57% of sales.
why it's growing
Revenue grew 1.6% last year. Latest quarter revenue rose 1% vs. prior year to $3.0B.
what just happened
Quarterly revenue was $3.0B with EPS around $0.33 to $0.34, a small sales gain but no sign of a clean rebound.
At a glance
A balance sheet — strong enough to weather a downturn
100/100 earnings predictability — you can trust these numbers
17.7x trailing p/e — the market's not buying it — or you found a deal
5.2% dividend yield — cash in your pocket every quarter
7.5% return on capital — nothing to write home about
xvary composite: 57/100 — below average
What they do
Hormel sells packaged meat, snacks, peanut butter, and pantry brands to grocery stores, restaurants, and overseas buyers.
You already know the products. SPAM, Skippy, Planters, Jennie-O, and Hormel sit in the aisle where shopping is habitual and boring. That boring matters: Hormel did $12.1 billion in annual sales, and its balance sheet grade is A, which means low financial stress, so what: your company can keep funding brands and dividends when weaker food peers flinch.
How they make money
$12.1B
annual revenue · their business grew +1.6% last year
retail
$6.9B
+1.0%
foodservice
$2.5B
+2.0%
international
$1.2B
+3.0%
turkey and commodity products
$1.0B
2.0%
other
$0.5B
0.0%
The products that matter
shelf-stable grocery foods
Grocery Products
$1.8B · about 60% of the quarter
This was the largest segment in the quarter at $1.8B, and it still grew 2%. If Hormel is going to stabilize, it starts here.
largest segment
fresh and refrigerated proteins
Refrigerated Foods
$0.9B · +1% growth
This $0.9B business is the second leg of the stool. Growth was only 1%, which is enough to keep the lights on, not enough to change the narrative.
stability watch
turkey business being streamlined
Jennie-O Turkey
$0.3B · -5% from last year
This segment generated only $0.3B in the quarter and moved down 5%. The planned whole-bird turkey divestiture is Hormel admitting this piece is not helping enough.
portfolio reset
Key numbers
5.2%
dividend yield
You are being paid more than many staples peers to sit through a turnaround that has not happened yet.
$12.1B
annual revenue
This is a huge sales base for a company growing just 1.6%, which tells you scale is real but speed is not.
11.0%
operating margin
Operating margin → profit left after running the business → so what: Hormel has some cushion, but not enough to ignore cost pressure.
7.5%
return on capital
Return on capital → profit earned on money invested → so what: this is decent for defense, not great for growth.
Financial health
A
strength
- balance sheet grade A — very strong financial position
- risk rank 2 — safer than 80% of stocks
- price stability 95 / 100
- long-term debt $2.9B (18% of capital)
A — among the top-rated companies for balance sheet quality.
Total return vs. market
You invested $10,000 in HRL 3 years ago → it's now worth $5,900.
The index would have given you $13,920.
source: institutional data · total return
What just happened
missed estimates
Quarterly revenue was $3.0B with EPS around $0.33 to $0.34, a small sales gain but no sign of a clean rebound.
Latest quarter revenue rose 1% vs. prior year to $3.0B, while EPS rose 6% vs. prior year to $0.33. Gross margin was 15.5%, which is fine, but not the kind of margin that forgives many mistakes.
$3.0B
revenue
$0.33
eps
15.5%
gross margin
the number that mattered
The key number was 15.5% gross margin because margin decides whether 1% sales growth becomes profit growth or just more work.
-
hormel foods’ immediate outlook is cloudy.
-
fiscal 2026 (ends october 31st) is shaping up to be another difficult year.management targets sales of $12.1 billion to $12.5 billion and adjusted earnings per share between $1.43 to $1.51. high commodity costs, and a chicken-product recall, have plagued profits in recent years, while actions to stimulate key businesses have yielded little success. a large multi-year restructuring plan, focused on improving technological capabilities and enhancing production efficiencies, has not born fruit. pricing competition remains fierce, and generated savings has been redirected into brand investments and advertising. such spending will increase in the coming year, as promotion probably becomes more aggressive, but the jury is still out on future success.
-
long-term total-return potential is above average, but we have lowered the risk rank since our last report.hormel’s spam business is a unique asset, and has historically experienced some periods of less popularity. however, brands added in recent years, such as skippy and planters, are struggling to gain share in their categories. other various product lines, such as pork and commodity turkey offerings, have also been inconsistent since earnings plateaued during the pandemic (2019-2022).
-
with three successive annual profit declines after covid, the earnings multiple is now at a discount to the market average for the first time since 2012.
-
wall street’s increasing pessimism about a potential turnaround is not unfounded.
source: company earnings report, 2026
Get this snapshot in your inbox
This page, delivered free — plus weekly updates when the numbers change. plain english, no spam.
weekly updates
earnings alerts
plain english
no spam
What could go wrong
The top risk here is persistent gross margin pressure in packaged proteins. Hormel kept revenue above $3B in Q1, but gross profit still fell to $469.6M from $475.2M a year earlier.
high
Gross margin compression
Gross profit moved down to $469.6M from $475.2M despite Q1 revenue of $3.03B. That means volume and pricing are not translating into better economics.
If that continues, the $1.43–$1.51 EPS guide gets harder to defend.
med
Turkey portfolio reset may not fix enough
Jennie-O Turkey produced only $0.3B in quarterly revenue and declined 5% from last year. Selling the whole-bird business may simplify the portfolio, but it does not automatically restore growth elsewhere.
The company could end up leaner without becoming meaningfully faster-growing.
med
Guidance credibility is now part of the story
Q1 revenue of $3.03B missed the $3.07B estimate by $40M, while the street already models only about $12B against management's $12.2–$12.5B view.
Another miss would reinforce the idea that the market should keep HRL at a discount multiple.
med
Litigation and cleanup costs can keep muddying the picture
Hormel reached a settlement agreement in pending pork price-fixing litigation, and the disclosed industry-wide figure was $208M. The exact Hormel piece was not disclosed here.
Even one-time items matter more when annual EPS is only guided to $1.43–$1.51.
These risks sit on a business guiding to $12.2–$12.5B in revenue and $1.43–$1.51 in EPS. If gross profit keeps sliding from the current $469.6M quarterly level, the market will keep treating the 5.2% yield as compensation, not upside.
source: institutional data · regulatory filings · risk analysis
Pay attention to
metric
gross profit needs to stop going backward
Q1 gross profit was $469.6M versus $475.2M a year ago. That is the cleanest read on whether the operating reset is real.
calendar
Q2 FY2026 earnings report
Expected in May 2026. You want to see whether the EPS beat in Q1 can be repeated without another revenue stumble.
trend
core segment growth is still barely positive
Grocery Products grew 2% and Refrigerated Foods grew 1%. That is stable, but it is not enough to carry a rerating by itself.
risk
Jennie-O divestiture execution
The whole-bird turkey business sale is expected to close in 2026. If it drags or disappoints, the cleanup narrative weakens.
Analyst rankings
earnings predictability
100 / 100
In human-speak: analysts trust Hormel to stay in the lane. The problem is that the lane is slow.
risk rank
2
That means safer than roughly 80% of stocks. You are taking business-execution risk more than balance-sheet risk.
price stability
95 / 100
The stock is unusually steady for an underperformer. Low drama on the chart has not meant good returns.
source: institutional data
Institutional activity
institutions have been net selling for 2 consecutive quarters — 294 buyers vs. 311 sellers in 3q2025. total institutional holdings: 0.2B shares. net selling for 2 quarters.
source: institutional data
Price targets
3-5 year target range
$20
$31
$24
current price
$26
target midpoint · +8% from current · 3-5yr high: $50 (+105% · 22% ann'l return)
Want the deeper analysis?
The full deep dive: dcf model, scenario analysis, competitive moat breakdown, and quarterly tracking — everything on this page, taken further.
see plans from $5/moThe deep dive