Smithfield Sees 4th-Qtr Earnings Below Street View

US - U.S. hog and pork producer Smithfield Foods Inc. forecast fiscal fourth-quarter earnings below expectations on Tuesday due to higher production costs for hogs and losses in cattle feeding.

Smithfield sees profit from continuing operations at 30 cents to 35 cents per share, while analysts, on average, expected 45 cents, according to Reuters Estimates. The company will report fourth-quarter results on June 7.

In the year-earlier period, the company reported earnings of one cent per share.

Smithfield and other meat companies have been hurt this year by high prices for corn, an important feed.

The forecast came as JBS-Friboi, Latin America's biggest beef producer, agreed to buy privately held meat packer Swift & Co., for $225 million in cash and the assumption of about $1.16 billion of Swift's debt.

Swift is the No. 3 U.S. beef and pork processor.

Smithfield, the largest U.S. hog producer, markets about 14 million head a year, and is co-owner of the nation's largest cattle feeding operation.

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Source: Reuters

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