Tyson Foods earnings drop in second quarter but beat expectations

Monday, May 2nd 2005, 9:48 am

By: News On 6

SPRINGDALE, Ark. (AP) _ Tyson Foods Incorporated, the world's largest meat processing company, announced today that its second-quarter earnings declined 36 percent from last year. The Springdale-based company says the drop is due in part from the company's commodity risk management activities related to grain purchases.

Sales were up for the company, and earnings of 21 cents per share were still higher than the 17 cents analysts projected.

Tyson on Monday also lowered the top end for its earnings projection for the year. The company now says its anticipated profits for 2005 are expected to be in the range of a dollar-five-cents to a dollar-20 cents

Sales were up across the board for Tyson -- in chicken, beef, pork and processed food.