Sales of Hormel Foods Corp.'s Jennie-O branded turkey products helped the Austin-based company report second-quarter profits last week that flew past Wall Street estimates. The company earned $127.9 million, or 48 cents per share, up 17 percent from the second quarter last year while second quarter sales rose 2.7 percent to $2 billion.
What analysts are saying: Hormel's big quarter
March 21, 2013 at 9:28PM
Increasing sales and a lower, more-efficient cost structure in the Jennie-O division helped that segment post a 50 percent increase in operating profits and a 7 percent increase in sales, Edward Jones analyst Matt Arnold said. "Hormel does a great job in adding value to what pretty much is a commodity type of business. They bring a lot to the [turkey] category in terms of innovation."
MIKAN'S BEST BUY DEBUT
It was interim CEO G. "Mike" Mikan's first quarterly earnings conference call for Best Buy last week, and his reviews were positive. Mikan replaced former CEO Brian Dunn who resigned in April in the midst of an investigation of his personal conduct. Board member Mikan was named the interim CEO and also is a candidate for the permanent job.
"He was acting like he is the CEO," said Colin McGranahan, an analyst with Stanford Bernstein & Co. "He's charging hard out of the gate."
Mikan is not merely keeping the CEO seat warm. He told analysts "bold actions are required."
"We must take a fresh look at our investments and the entire business. ... There will be no sacred cows," he said.
McGranahan is already handicapping Mikan's chances of having the interim tag removed. "Odds are increasingly small" that Best Buy will hire someone else as CEO, McGranahan said. "You don't act like that unless you believe you're the front-runner."
PATRICK KENNEDY
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Stadium Capital, the largest shareholder, had been pushing for management and board changes at Minneapolis-based smart-bed maker.
