Pilgrim's Pride (NASDAQ: PPC) reported Q1 EPS of $0.42, $0.07 better than the analyst estimate of $0.35. Revenue for the quarter came in at $3.27 billion versus the consensus estimate of $3.24 billion.

First Quarter Highlights

• Net Sales of $3.27 billion.
• GAAP Net Income of $100.2 million. Adjusted Net Income of $103.0 million or adjusted EPS of $0.42.
• Consolidated Operating Income margin of 4.8% with Operating Income margins of 3.4% in U.S., 19.0% in Mexico and 1.2% in Europe.
• Adjusted EBITDA of $253.8 million, or a 7.8% margin, 53.4% higher than a year ago.
• Throughout the global COVID-19 pandemic, we remain guided by our principles of an uncompromising commitment to the safety of our team members, our duty to provide quality food globally, and our responsibility to provide continued employment opportunities and benefits for our team during these unprecedented times.
• Strong focus in execution and dedication by our team members, supported by our portfolio strategy of differentiated products, strong Key Customer relationships, and diversified global operations have helped us to mitigate challenging market conditions due to COVID-19 and improve the resiliency in our results.
• Demand in U.S. continues to recover, with our foodservice business improving while Retail and QSR business maintaining strength despite higher input and operating costs, volume disruptions because of weather events, and less than optimal mix due to significant labor shortages. Commodity large bird deboning experienced a rapid increase in prices throughout the quarter, achieving the largest improvement relative to Q1 a year ago.
• Mexico maintained the strength from the second half of 2020. Strong execution, improved overall economic conditions, better supply/demand balance, and our increased share of non-commodity products contributed to the strength.
• Our combined European business continues to achieve operational improvements, offsetting high feed costs, not yet reflected in prices, lower year-over-year foodservice volume due to lockdowns, and COVID-19 mitigation costs.
• Our commitment to achieve net-zero GHG emissions by 2040 demonstrates our leadership in ESG as a responsible steward of the environment and a good corporate citizen. In support, last month we successfully issued a $1 billion sustainability-linked bond tied to efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emission intensity across our global operations. The bond is the first of its kind to be issued by a global meat and poultry company, and aligns with our vision to be the best and most respected company in our industry.

“While overall demand conditions have incrementally improved, we are still faced with market specific volatility and challenges across our global operations. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, our team has continued to maintain their commitment, dedication and hard work, in supporting our ability to keep a safe and healthy working environment while allowing us the capability to maintain production and supply to our customers during this unprecedented crisis. Our diversified portfolio and strategy has continued to mitigate the difficult environment and produce the expected results in relative performance to the competition, while delivering more resilient performance regardless of changes in specific market conditions. During Q1, the U.S. generated a solid performance despite challenges from weather events and higher input costs; while Mexico maintained its strong results from the second half of 2020. In Europe, more expensive feed ingredients, COVID-19 mitigation costs, lower foodservice volumes due to pandemic restrictions, and export constraints to China presented a challenging environment. Nevertheless, we remain agile and are continuing to adapt our operations to changes in market conditions,” stated Fabio Sandri, Chief Executive Officer of Pilgrim's.

“During Q1, the market environment in the U.S. improved throughout the quarter, including a challenging February in part due to the significant weather event in the southeast, before a very strong recovery as we exited the quarter. With gradual loosening of restrictions, as a result of the increase in vaccinations, the market has been incrementally improving, especially in foodservice. The market for commodity large bird deboning experienced the largest improvement relative to the same period a year ago. Our retail and QSR results have remained solid due to strong demand across our customer base despite higher input and operating costs, and less than optimal mix due to significant labor shortages and COVID-19. Our Prepared Foods business remained resilient considering the challenging demand environment. The business continues to grow its sales in the branded segment, reflecting the investments made over the past few years, and we anticipate stronger results as COVID-19 restrictions are gradually lifted throughout 2021.”

“Compared to a very challenging Q1 last year, Mexico had another strong quarter following a robust performance during the second half 2020, driven by a balanced supply/demand and continuous improvements in operational performance. We adapted the operations well to generate strong performance despite volumes in the fresh segment that were below those of 2020. Our Prepared Foods also performed well, with improved demand. We maintain the pursuit of our strategy to invest in our brands, in both fresh and prepared food business, seeking to establish strong differentiated brands and products, and at the same time increase our share in modern channels with more stable margins over time, consistent with our vision for growth in Mexico.”

“In Q1, our Moy Park operations experienced some headwinds due to significant changes in the cost of feed ingredients, the year-over-year impact of lockdown restrictions on demand and COVID-19 mitigation costs, but are continuing to evolve as we strengthen its ability to manage the stability by adapting a sales model to better moderate future input cost challenges. In addition, our strong internal operating performance and commitment to innovation have helped in mitigating the difficult environment. Integration of Pilgrim’s UK is on track, and the business has continued to contribute positively to our results. During the quarter, we experienced a reduction in volume of exports to China due to the suspension of our export license at two plants as a result of COVID-19. We work diligently with the applicable authorities to reinstate these licenses. In addition, pig prices in the EU and UK were under pressure because of ASF in Germany; however, prices have already started to recover.”

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