Sanderson Farms Inc. SAFM, -0.41% reported Thursday that rose five-fold to top expectations and revenue that also rose above forecasts, as “significantly improved” demand and prices for products sold helped offset sharp increases in feed costs. Shares of the chicken producer, processor and distributor were still inactive in premarket trading. Net income rose to $164.8 million, or $7.38 a share, from $32.8 million, or $1.48 a share, in the year-ago period. The FactSet consensus for earnings per share was $6.78. Sales rose 41.4% to $1.35 billion, above the FactSet consensus of $1.28 billion. Average quoted market price for boneless breast meat rose 71.4%, for bulk leg quarter grew 66.3% and for chicken breast tenders increased 107.3%. Meanwhile, average feed costs per pound of poultry processed increased 45.8%, while prices paid for corn mean grew 87.7% and for soybean meal rose 50.1%. “Our financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2021 reflect significantly improved demand and prices for products sold to food service customers, continued strong demand for products sold to retail grocery store customers, reduced volumes due to planned egg set reductions that we implemented during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, and higher costs of feed grains,” said Chief Executive Joe Sanderson. The stock has rallied 16.0% over the past three months while the S&P 500 SPX, -0.03% has tacked on 7.2%.
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