LAUREL, Miss. (AP) — NEWS: Sanderson Farms said Tuesday that its fiscal fourth-quarter net income climbed more than fourfold, benefiting from higher chicken prices and lower prices for feed ingredients. Its earnings missed Wall Street's view, but revenue beat analysts' expectations.
DETAILS: Fourth-quarter boneless breast meat prices were 8.4 percent higher than a year ago, on average. Jumbo wing prices fell 16.5 percent to an average of $1.43 per pound. Prices for dark meat were steady on solid export demand.
Corn prices fell 32.8 percent in the quarter, while soybean meal prices dipped 1.6 percent.
The company said that it sold a company record 3.03 billion pounds of dressed poultry in fiscal 2013, up from 2.95 billion pounds sold in fiscal 2012.
NUMBERS: For the three months ended Oct. 31, Sanderson Farms Inc. earned $45.3 million, or $1.97 per share. That compares with $9.3 million, or 41 cents per share, a year earlier.
Analysts polled by FactSet expected earnings of $2.15 per share.
Revenue rose 12 percent to $727.1 million from $648.4 million. Wall Street was looking for $708.7 million in revenue.
Full-year net income more than doubled to $130.6 million, or $5.68 per share, from $53.9 million, or $2.35 per share, in the previous year. Annual revenue climbed to $2.68 billion from $2.39 billion.
STOCK: The shares closed at $70.75 on Monday. Its shares are up almost 49 percent so far this year.
