Tyson turns a profit

Tyson Foods surprised investors on Monday, August 3, by announcing quarterly results far ahead of Wall Street's expectations, returning to profitability even as American consumers continue to trim their food-buying habits, according to a report by the Financial Times.
Tyson did caution, however, that U.S. demand for meat had not bounced back, and warned that the next three months were likely to be more difficult.
The results were welcomed by the company which has experienced a challenging year. Before the economic downturn started to affect shoppers' behavior, Tyson faced high grain prices, which dragged its chicken unit - and the whole group - into the red. Its derivatives trading unit made bad investments that resulted in losses of hundreds of millions of dollars.
Tyson made net profits of $127 million or 33 cents/share, excluding extraordinary items, in its fiscal third quarter to June 28 – up from a loss of $43 million or 1 cent/share in the same period last year and well ahead of analysts' average forecasts of about 20 cents/share. Its revenues were $6.7 billion, in line with expectations.