Tyson Foods (NYSE:TSN) reported second-quarter financial results on Monday. The transcript from the company’s second-quarter earnings call has been provided below.
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Access the full call at https://events.q4inc.com/attendee/759959591
Summary
Tyson Foods reported second quarter sales of $13.7 billion and an adjusted operating income of $497 million, indicating strategic success and momentum in their diversified protein-centric approach.
The company highlighted strong performance in its chicken segment with a 12.2% margin, driven by operational excellence and strategic customer partnerships, while genetics improvements are expected to further enhance future performance.
Prepared Foods saw a 4.8% sales increase with a 14% margin, gaining market share across several categories and benefiting from disciplined execution and innovation.
Beef segment faced challenges due to cattle cycle volatility but is expected to improve with footprint optimizations, while pork benefited from stable operations and balanced supply-demand dynamics.
The company raised its AOI guidance for the year, indicating confidence in continued robust demand for high-quality protein and operational improvements, despite external market pressures.
Full Transcript
OPERATOR
Good morning and welcome to the Tyson Foods second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. All participants will be in a listen only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the Star key followed by zero. After today’s presentation there will be an opportunity to ask questions. To ask a question, you may press Star then one on your touchtone phone. To withdraw your question, please press Star then two. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to John Cottle, vp, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.
John Cottle (Vice President, Investor Relations)
Good morning and welcome to Tyson Foods second quarter fiscal year 2026 earnings conference call. On today’s call, Tyson Foods President and Chief Executive Officer Donnie King, Chief Financial Officer Curt Callaway and Chief Operating Officer Devin Cole will provide prepared remarks. Following the prepared remarks, we will have a Q and A session. We have also provided a supplemental presentation which may be referenced on today’s call and is available on Tyson’s investor Relations website and via the link in our webcast. During today’s call we will make forward looking statements regarding our expectations for the future. These forward looking statements made during the call are provided pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward looking statements include all comments reflecting our expectations, assumptions or beliefs about future events or performance that do not relate solely to historical periods. These forward looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions which may cause actual results to differ materially from our current projections. Please refer to our forward looking statement disclaimers on Slide 2 as well as our SEC filings for additional information concerning risk factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from our projections. We assume no obligation to update any forward looking statements. As we mentioned last quarter segment results are presented on a segment operating income level and will be discussed on an adjusted basis. The primary difference between segment operating income and the method used in previous quarters is that we no longer allocate corporate expenses and amortization down to the segment level. We have recast previously reported quarterly results for the previous three fiscal years to reflect the new format. The segment change has no impact on consolidated historical US GAAP financial results. The recast financial information is accessible through the Events and Presentation section of the Company’s investor relations website at ir.tyson.com Please note that references to earnings per share, segment operating income, operating income and operating margin in our remarks are on an adjusted basis for our fiscal periods unless otherwise noted. For reconciliations of these non GAAP measures to their corresponding GAAP measures Please refer to our earnings press release now. I will turn the call over to Donnie.
Donnie King (President and Chief Executive Officer)
Thank you John and thanks to everyone joining us today. Overall, I’m pleased with our performance in the second quarter and we are raising our AOI guidance for the year to incorporate better performance year to date and continued confidence in the future of our business. I’d like to reinforce what we’re building at Tyson, a diversified protein centric company positioned to capture growing demand for high quality protein. Animal protein remains top of mind for consumers and continues to gain momentum as a foundational part of a healthy diet. We are directly tied to and stand to benefit from this long term trend. We’re focused on disciplined execution, a diversified multi protein portfolio and a balanced approach to capital allocation. Our scale and operating capabilities support cash generation across cycles enabling us to reinvest in the business, reduce leverage over time and return capital to shareholders consistent with our capital priorities. We remain committed to our long term strategy that creates value for customers, consumers and shareholders and will continue to be transparent with our investors along the way. Our shift to segment operating income is working as intended. This change empowers our business leaders to pursue volume growth and enhance their decision making based on a more direct view of the impacts of those decisions without corporate expenses and amortization which are more fixed in nature. As stated previously, we will continue to focus on reducing spending and maximizing efficiencies in our corporate functions and see more Runway with both initiatives. Let me tell you more about the quarter and Devin and Kurt will elaborate. Our second quarter results with $13.7 billion in sales and $497 million in adjusted operating income demonstrate that our strategy is working and is gaining momentum for both Tyson Foods and and our customers. We remain focused on continuous improvement and our team is energized by the opportunities ahead within chicken. We delivered another impressive quarter with $523 million in segment operating income at a 12.2% margin while navigating a more normalized commodity environment and typical Q2 seasonality. Strong execution on the controllables and more efficient marketing and promotional spend drove improved performance. Demand remains robust and our customer centric approach is working. Overall, year over year chicken volume was up 1.7% with retail and food service volumes growing nearly three times faster than total volume, reflecting momentum with our strategic customers. Importantly, these results were not driven by broad price increases with base pricing being slightly lower in the quarter, but rather we saw improvements in product mix and executed well operationally. Our end to end chicken business, including our chicken genetics business, is performing at a high level as we continue to deliver on our commitments, but we see ample opportunities for more improvement and growth. This is another example of how our chicken business is outperforming compared to a commodity chicken business. Moving to prepared foods segment operating income increased to $352 million even as commodity costs were higher year over year and our margin expanded to 14% reflecting strong demand share gains and disciplined execution. Sales grew 4.8% and volume grew 0.4%. Importantly, we continue to drive innovation and our brands are winning in the marketplace. In Q2, we gained share in volume, dollars and units. Our brand strength and focus on customer relationships, along with improved promotional efficiency and targeted MAP investments are delivering strong return on investment. Turning to beef, our segment results reflected the expected volatility in the cattle cycle. We successfully completed the previously announced strategic decision to optimize our manufacturing footprint. As a result, our second quarter results reflect only a portion of these operational adjustments, which are intended to improve utilization and strengthen our cost position. Importantly, we’re staying focused on the levers we can control plant utilization, operating discipline, customer mix and execution, and we expect the benefits from these actions to build as we move through the year. Our outlook for the remainder of the year implies lower losses in the back half than the front half of the year. We continue to expect results below historical margin levels until cattle supplies normalize. Our pork segment performed well in a stable operating environment. All parts of the pork value chain, from hog supply pork production through retail and food service customers are in relative balance, allowing for more predictable and stable operating margins. Pork’s relative value to beef is likely to benefit revenue for the balance of the year. Finally, our international segment continued its momentum and had another good quarter. As we’ve discussed, there is increasing demand for protein, which helps us drive strong revenue and cash flow even through economic ups and downs. We also benefit from being a producer of several different animal proteins as the timing of these cycles can vary. This trend insulates us from an otherwise fragile macro environment. Consumer confidence recently fell to a record low while inflation is still elevated more than 3%. At the same time, food service traffic rebounded in the second quarter, reinforcing the value of our diversified portfolio across retail and food service. We also benefit from our scale as we can provide lower unit costs, better service levels and maintain a healthy market share as we produce approximately 1 in 5 pounds of US chicken, beef and pork. Our long history and strong position in the marketplace solidifies our business for the long run. Protein continues to be a priority for consumers. As a leading animal protein provider, we are well positioned to meet this demand with products that deliver complete nutrition, including all nine essential amino acids. This, along with our shift to simple ingredients like those found in your pantry, is resonating and gaining traction with consumers. Together, these factors support stronger returns through disciplined investment, expanding profitability and consistent cash return to shareholders. Consumers are choosing protein and they’re leaning into brands they trust for quality, taste and convenience. That plays directly to Tyson Foods strengths where we’re winning in chicken and prepared foods, driving share, volume and margin. According to Nielsen data, total food and beverage category retail volume declined 1% with dollars up 1.7% over the 13 weeks ending in March. In contrast, our Tyson retail branded products, which includes our national and regional brands, grew by 2.3% in volume and 3.6% in dollars, outperforming the broader categories. We are also winning in digital across key retailers. Our digital dollar growth is materially stronger than in store performance, reflecting our ability to compete and win in omnichannel shopping. A few examples include Tyson branded value added chicken up 6.5%, Adele’s dinner sausage increased by 9.7%, Hillshire lunch meat grew by 7.6% and Wright and Jimmy Dean bacon increased by 6.8%. Our Hillshire snack combos have also achieved double digit growth. In addition to the volume growth, all five categories grew dollars and share, reinforcing that we’re winning with consumers while improving the quality of our growth. We’re also performing well in food service with volume growth of 60 basis points. In terms of how we’re driving innovation in our portfolio, we are using AI driven insights that sharpen how we identify emerging preferences and translate them into action. This enables us to bring on trend consumer led products into the marketplace. In practice, the integration of AI allows us to better connect what consumers are telling us with what shows up on shelves and menus. The capability is accelerating our innovation pipeline, improving decisions around distribution and pricing and strengthening the effectiveness of marketing and new customer acquisition. One example of this is in our Jimmy Dean brand. Using these insights, we’re pioneering the next wave of higher protein breakfast. Our recent launch of a Jimmy Dean protein breakfast platform is off to a phenomenal start bringing higher protein versions of consumer traditional favorites like sandwiches and bowls that are showing stronger velocity and consumer takeaway. We’re pairing those core items with innovation like Jimmy Dean high protein waffles that is the new and incremental to our prepared foods business. Early consumer responses have been very positive and it’s bringing new and younger consumers to the brand. We have already begun to capture meaningful share at retail and we see a compelling Runway to build on this momentum. As we expand distribution and continue to innovate, our retail performance remains superior to that of our primary competitors in comparable business segments across the industry. Over the past 12 months, our prepared foods retail business has driven strong gains in volume, market share and profitability, outpacing our peers. However, our valuation continues to reflect discount relative to those peers. Investors who recognize the value today will benefit the most. This is why Tyson Foods is uniquely situated for success in today’s environment. Demand for our products continues to grow and we’re well positioned to capture this momentum. While some companies face challenges in generating demand, our share gains demonstrate both our strength and our expectation for further growth, an essential driver of our ongoing success. Our protein centric offerings combined with disciplined capital allocation enable us to capitalize on the opportunities that stem from strong performance and allow us to continue to thrive in the Marketplace. As a 90 year old American company, we provide trust and consistency across cycles. As you’ve heard us say many times, we’re not standing still. Overall, these strengths allow us to deliver lasting value to our customers, consumers, team members and shareholders. Looking ahead, the opportunities before us are more promising than ever and I’m very confident in our portfolio and in our strategy. With that, I’ll turn it over to Devin to take you through the segments in more detail.
Devin Cole (Chief Operating Officer)
Thank you Donnie and good morning. In the second quarter our team made progress toward our strategic objectives. We remain committed to holding ourselves accountable to our customers and consumers expectations. Now let’s review our segment performance. Prepared Foods delivered a strong quarter with sales up 4.8% versus last year and volume up 0.4%. Segment operating income was 352 million, up 7% year over year and margin expanded to 14%. Reflecting continued progress on our multi year plan to enhance profitability, we gained share in volume, dollars and units in the quarter. Volume share was up 70 basis points and dollar share was up 50 basis points driven by strong protein demand and our disciplined execution with notable wins in bacon, lunch, meat, dinner, sausage and snacking. Volume growth reflects distribution gains, innovation and improved promotional efficiency supported by targeted MAP investments as consumers prioritize convenient, nutritious, high protein solutions. Looking ahead, we expect continued growth in segment operating income for the full year and remain well positioned in this business for the long term. In chicken we delivered segment operating income of 523 million and a margin of 12.2% despite a more normalized pricing environment and the typical seasonality we see in Q2, sales were up 3.5% year over year driven by favorable mix and volume growth. With total chicken volume up 1.7%, retail and food service volumes grew nearly three times faster than total volume, reflecting strong consumer demand and momentum with our strategic customers. Our diversified pricing strategies and improved mix kept average selling prices stable even as base pricing was down. That stability and our bottom line results were driven by a better product mix tied to strategic customer growth and stronger operational performance. Execution continued to improve across the controllables live performance yield, asset utilization, labor productivity and end to end supply chain discipline, supporting our sixth consecutive quarter of year over year volume and net sales growth and reinforcing the consistency and predictability of our chicken business. We also wanted to highlight the success we are seeing in our chicken genetics business which is competing at a high level again. This has been driven by the hard work of our genetics and live production teams. Alongside family farmers who are the best at what they do, this business is delivering meaningful sustainable results and creating real economic value for our customers. Combined with our shift toward a more value added product mix, our strategic customer alignment and our chicken genetics business differentiates Tyson from commodity chicken competitors and strengthens the value proposition we deliver to customers and shareholders. Growth was strong across retail and food service with nearly all sub channels delivering positive volume growth. We are strengthening service and quality with our strategic customers while continuing to expand our value added and premium portfolio to meet demand for convenient high quality options. Taken together, our strategic customer partnerships and disciplined execution are strengthening our chicken business model. As it becomes more consistent and predictable, we see more Runway ahead in our beef segment. We remain committed to disciplined execution and the actions within our control as we operate in a dynamic market environment. Beef sales increased slightly in the second quarter compared to the prior year. Our updated operational footprint is aligning with lower cattle availability and we are seeing the benefits of a higher capacity utilization. While the quarter included variability in industry conditions, we believe the harvesting plan adjustments better position us to compete effectively this year and over the long term with the right size production footprint. We expect to see increasing benefits from these actions in the coming quarters. Segment operating income declined compared to the prior year as higher cattle costs more than offset higher cutout values even as consumer demand remains strong. As we navigate the current cycle, we remain …
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