PPC

Pilgrim's Pride is one of the largest poultry (plus pork, lamb and prepared-meals) processors, and FY2025 found it in a favorable part of the protein cycle. Revenue grew 3.5% to $18.5B, operating income rose 7.1% to $1.61B (an 8.7% operating margin — strong for commodity protein), and net income held essentially flat at a high $1.08B (-0.4%). The company earns a 29.4% return on equity and ran its facilities hard — fresh chicken processing at 94.7% utilization. At $27.32 the stock trades at just 6.0x earnings and 0.4x sales, a deep-value multiple.

Cash generation has been so strong that the board authorized roughly $2 billion of special dividends in 2025 (the company has no regular dividend policy), which is why retained earnings fell 28.9% and cash dropped 68.6% to $640M despite the strong year. Operating cash flow of $1.37B was healthy though down 31.1% on working-capital swings, and the company stepped up capex 56.7% to $719M to expand capacity. Debt is moderate (long-term ~$3.21B, 1.81x liabilities/equity) and was reduced slightly.