Hormel Foods (NYSE: HRL) reported Q3 EPS of $0.37, $0.03 better than the analyst estimate of $0.34. Revenue for the quarter came in at $2.4 billion versus the consensus estimate of $2.37 billion.

OUTLOOK:

"We expect the fourth quarter to mirror many of the dynamics we saw in the third quarter, including strength from our retail businesses and the ongoing recovery in our foodservice business," Snee said. "However, the magnitude of additional recovery in the foodservice industry, the performance of the entire food supply chain and the state of the broader economy remain highly uncertain."

"As we begin the fourth quarter, we are actively addressing two areas of our business," Snee said. "First, while we saw an improvement in the third quarter, our foodservice business was still behind last year, which is a trend we expect to continue into the fourth quarter. I'm proud of the work our foodservice teams are doing to find unique solutions to support our distributors and operators. It is also encouraging to see growth from other channels and businesses offset declines in the foodservice channel."

"Second, our plant professionals have done heroic work to meet the high level of demand we are seeing across our business," Snee said. "In most businesses we are producing more product than we ever have, which is quite an accomplishment. However, in some key categories, the ongoing increased demand and impact of COVID-19 in our manufacturing facilities has forced our supply chain to find alternate solutions to increase production, including relying on our network of trusted co-manufacturing partners. In the fourth quarter, we expect factors such as limited labor availability, production inefficiencies due to COVID-19 safety measures and unseasonably low levels of inventory to challenge our ability to meet the increased demand for certain products."

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