GREELEY, Colo. (AP) — Pilgrim's Pride Corp. returned to profitability in its fiscal first quarter as it lowered expenses. Last year's quarter was weighed down by restructuring charges and other factors.
The chicken producer also said Friday that the company and sector must continue to look at the value of the whole chicken and not just rely on high breast meat prices to support profit margins. Pilgrim's Pride CEO Bill Lovette also said in a statement that the company must continue to control costs to deal with ongoing volatility in the commodity markets.
Pilgrim's Pride earned $39.2 million, or 18 cents per share, for the period. That compares with a loss of $120.8 million, or 54 cents per share, a year earlier.
The performance handily beat the 8 cents per share that analysts polled by Fact Set expected.
Last year's quarter included restructuring charges of $1.3 million and was also burdened by higher feed prices and the liquidation of some inventory.
Selling, general and administrative expenses dropped to $45.3 million from $53.2 million.
For the period ended March 25, revenue was nearly flat at $1.89 billion. This fell short of Wall Street's $1.93 billion.
Pilgrim's Pride, which is based in Greeley, Colo., runs chicken processing plants and prepared foods facilities in 12 states, Puerto Rico and Mexico.