Smithfield hit by higher hog prices

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Smithfield Food Inc, and the analysts who keep an eye on it, have been caught off guard by the recent leap in hog prices.

Meatingplace.com notes that Smithfield was warning investors before regular meetings that its fourth quarter numbers will be weaker than expected, in spite of changes in the way the company is doing business.

A BMO Capital Markets analyst noted that Smithfield had still made the right decisions by restructuring its hog business and reducing the amount of debt carried on its balance sheet. The world's largest hog producer is expected to do much better in 2011.

Higher raw material costs, meaning hogs, are affecting Smithfield's fresh pork business, while the unexpected run-up in futures has hurt the value of those assets, according to "mark to market" accounting, a system of assigning current market value to financial instruments. BP