Any thoughts you have would be appreciated.
Jim
It is unusual for a stable consumer company to be up 75% YTD. Still, P/E is only 18X even after the gains. The dividend of 2.7% (with growth) is attracting some interest. But the last quarter was very solid with earnings 22% higher than estimates, and EPS estimates are continually ticking higher. It has now beaten estimates in three straight quarters, with the improvement driven by MFI's pork business. Pork sales rose 10.7%, and this is setting up nicely for the company's spin off of this division by the end of the year, another factor exciting investors right now. Debt has also come down, which has improved the valuation multiple. Guidance was boosted, with tight cost control resulting in a 2.1 percentage point boost in margins, which combined with strong sales moved the company into a faster-profit-growth position. Investors are also happy that tariffs, so far, seem not to be a factor. While business is good and fundamentals are improving, we would say at least half of the gain is due to the upcoming spin out. We certainly would not expect these types of gains on a regular basis.