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Can Pilgrim's Pride's (PPC) Growth Efforts Help Keep Momentum?

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Pilgrim's Pride Corporation (PPC - Free Report) has strengthened its market position through expanded marketing initiatives in new regions, value-added offerings and operational excellence. The company has been steadily augmenting marketing support of its brands, as they expand and enter new regions.

PPC’s commitment to supply-chain enhancements has indeed resulted in notable improvement in efficiency and has also minimized the cost. The company is making substantial advancements in automation technology deployment across its processing plants. This initiative is poised to enhance efficiency levels and mitigate challenges related to labor availability.

Further, its excellence in the foodservice channel has been noteworthy. Moving on, solid gains were observed in the Mexico and Europe segments during the first quarter of 2024.The company’s success across various regions and channels highlight the effectiveness of its business strategies and market approach.

Unlocking Value in Pilgrim's Pride

Pilgrim's Pride has been witnessing impressive strength in the stock market over the past six months. Headquartered in Greeley, CO, PPC has indeed seen a notable increase of 34.1% in its stock price compared with the industry’s growth of 7.7%. This success can be attributable to strategic initiatives, which includes focus on key customers, capacity expansion, brand fortification and cost reduction.

Despite the notable upward movement, shares remain undervalued compared with industry benchmarks, creating an attractive opportunity for value-focused investors. The stock's forward 12-month price to earnings ratio stands at 9.42, lower than the industry average of 16.12, underscoring its compelling valuation. The stock's appealing Value Score of A enhances its attractiveness, indicating positive prospects for potential appreciation.

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The Driving Factors       

Pilgrim’s Pride has enhanced its business in Mexico, driven by balanced supply and demand fundamentals in commodity markets, favorable exchange rates and sustained implementation of strategies. Notably, strong diversified brand offering has played a crucial role to cater to various consumer preferences, ensuring resilience in the face of market volatility.

The Europe segment also showed significant improvement by focusing on enhancing labor efficiency, optimizing product mix and improving yields. These initiatives underscore its commitment to drive productivity and sustainable growth in the region. The company also observed an increase in demand for chicken, bacon, sausage and gammon within the segment.

Finally, Pilgrim's Pride maintained its positive momentum in the foodservice distribution channel, with both commercial and non-commercial subchannels experiencing increased volume and sales during the first quarter. Additionally, robust performance of both commercial and non-commercial subchannels indicates its resilience and effectiveness in serving a diverse customer base within the food service industry.

Hurdles to be Countered?

PPC has been contending with the persistent challenges of inflation and the volatile nature of market conditions. Indeed, supplies have constrained due to factors like the bird-flu outbreak where demand remains relatively stable and prices have increased. However, the short-term unfavorable impacts of issues like the bird-flu outbreak may subside, allowing this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company to regain momentum and potentially continue its upward trajectory in the market.

3 Picks You Can’t Miss

Here, we have highlighted three better-ranked stocks, namely, Vital Farms (VITL - Free Report) , Ollie's Bargain Outlet (OLLI - Free Report) and Vita Coco Company (COCO - Free Report)

Vital Farms offers a range of produced pasture-raised foods. It currently sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). VITL has a trailing four-quarter average earnings surprise of 102.1%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Vital Farms’ current financial-year sales and earnings suggests growth of 22.5% and 59.3%, respectively, from the year-ago reported numbers.

Ollie's Bargain, the extreme-value retailer of brand-name merchandise, currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). OLLI has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 10.4%, on average.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Ollie's Bargain’s current financial-year sales and earnings indicates a rise of around 7.9% and 13.1%, respectively, from the year-earlier levels.

Vita Coco, which develops, markets and distributes coconut water products, currently flaunts a Zacks Rank #1. COCO has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 25.3%, on average.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Vita Coco’s current financial-year sales and earnings implies an improvement of 3.5% and 40.5%, respectively, from the year-ago reported numbers.

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