Pilgrim’s Pride Earnings: Robust Results Surprise the Market as Outlook for Chicken Looks Promising

No-moat Pilgrim’s Pride reported impressive fourth-quarter results that reflected a dramatic turnaround from the year-ago quarter amid recovering chicken prices and easing input cost inflation. Net sales of $4.5 billion were nearly 10% higher and beat our forecast of $4.4 billion. The improvement in profitability was even better, with adjusted EBITDA of $310 million, nearly five times higher than the fourth quarter of 2022 and well ahead of our forecast of $251 million. Due to near-term profits, we anticipate raising our $28.50 fair value estimate by a low to mid-single-digit percentage.