Global Protein Consumption And Natural Health Will Fuel Expansion

Key Takeaways

• Growth is driven by modernization and innovation in healthier products, aligning with shifts toward protein and wellness, supporting pricing power and sustainable revenue.
  
• Operational efficiencies, global diversification, and disciplined capital allocation provide resilience, underpinning long-term margin expansion and profitability.
  
• Profitability and growth are threatened by volatile input costs, slow pricing reactions, weak demand, shifting consumer trends, and uncertainty in achieving long-term targets.

Catalysts

Develops, processes, and distributes various meat, nuts, and other food products to foodservice, convenience store, and commercial customers in the United States and internationally.

• Hormel's strong positioning in protein-rich food categories and its continued organic sales growth are supported by enduring global shifts toward increased protein consumption and higher demand in emerging markets, which should drive sustainable revenue growth over the long term.
  
• The company's active modernization, innovation, and investment in healthier, leaner, and natural products (e.g., Jennie-O, Applegate, renovation of core brands) aligns with consumers' rising emphasis on health and wellness, helping preserve pricing power and protect or expand net margins in the future.
  
• Major supply chain automation, manufacturing footprint improvements, and the ongoing Transform and Modernize (T&M) initiatives are on track, expected to drive significant operational efficiencies and cost reductions, supporting long-run margin expansion and ultimately higher future earnings.
  
• Strategic pricing actions now being implemented, especially in response to elevated commodity costs, are expected to recover and grow profitability beginning late 2025 and into 2026, which should improve net margins and bottom-line growth as input cost pressures stabilize.
  
• Hormel's diversified global platform (notably robust China and international growth), expanding portfolio in snacks/plant-based protein, and a disciplined capital allocation approach position it to benefit from long-term shifts toward convenience and premium food products, underpinning sustained revenue and mixed improvement in future periods.

Hormel Foods Future Earnings and Revenue Growth

Assumptions

• Analysts are assuming Hormel Foods's revenue will grow by 2.5% annually over the next 3 years.
• Analysts assume that profit margins will increase from 6.3% today to 7.3% in 3 years time.
• Analysts expect earnings to reach $952.2 million (and earnings per share of $1.76) by about September 2028, up from $754.5 million today.
• In order for the above numbers to justify the analysts price target, the company would need to trade at a PE ratio of 20.4x on those 2028 earnings, up from 18.6x today. This future PE is greater than the current PE for the US Food industry at 19.5x.
• Analysts expect the number of shares outstanding to grow by 0.3% per year for the next 3 years.
• To value all of this in today's terms, we will use a discount rate of 6.78%, as per the Simply Wall St company report.

Hormel Foods Future Earnings Per Share Growth

Risks

• Persistent and volatile commodity inflation-particularly in pork, beef, and nuts-has resulted in significant margin compression and unpredictable cost swings, which the company expects to continue impacting profitability into fiscal 2026, threatening sustainable earnings growth and margin recovery.
  
• The lag between input cost escalation and the offsetting effect of targeted pricing actions, especially in retail channels where pass-through is slower and price elasticity remains a risk, suggests extended periods where costs may outpace price increases, directly pressuring net margins and earnings.
  
• Hormel's reliance on legacy flagship brands and incremental product renovation faces the risk that evolving consumer preferences toward plant-based, clean-label, and alternative proteins may outpace Hormel's innovation, potentially eroding brand strength, reducing top-line growth, and compressing long-term revenue streams.
  
• Foodservice industry weakness, including sustained soft industry-wide traffic and specific declines in the convenience channel, combined with mixed recovery in international segments (e.g., ongoing profit pressure in Brazil), heightens exposure to slow demand recovery, further risking revenue growth and segment profitability.
  
• The revised 2026 long-term growth targets and profitability objectives, once predicated on more stable input costs and stronger consumer sentiment, are now "under review"; this signals management's lowered confidence in achieving previously outlined earnings, top-line growth, and margin ambitions, pointing to structural risks in delivering long-term financial improvement.

Valuation

• The analysts have a consensus price target of $28.75 for Hormel Foods based on their expectations of its future earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors. However, there is a degree of disagreement amongst analysts, with the most bullish reporting a price target of $34.0, and the most bearish reporting a price target of just $25.0.
• In order for you to agree with the analyst's consensus, you'd need to believe that by 2028, revenues will be $13.0 billion, earnings will come to $952.2 million, and it would be trading on a PE ratio of 20.4x, assuming you use a discount rate of 6.8%.
• Given the current share price of $25.52, the analyst price target of $28.75 is 11.2% higher.
• We always encourage you to reach your own conclusions though. So sense check these analyst numbers against your own assumptions and expectations based on your understanding of the business and what you believe is probable.