GREELEY, COLO. — Pilgrim’s Pride Corp. saw strong numbers when reporting its third-quarter earnings, which ended on Sept. 29.

The company reported a profit of $350 million, equal to $1.47 per share on the common stock, up significantly from $121.6 million, or 51¢ per share, from the same period last year.

Pilgrim’s posted a solid jump of more than 5% in net sales from $4.4 billion in 2023 to $4.6 billion in 2024.

In the first nine months of fiscal 2024, Pilgrim’s reported a profit of $851.4 million, equal to $3.59 per share on the common stock, a major jump from the $188.1 million profit during the same nine months in 2023. Net sales for the first nine months were $13.5 billion compared to $12.8 billion last year.

“Throughout the quarter, we continued to strengthen our business through consistent application and execution of our strategies of key customer partnership, portfolio diversification, and operational excellence,” said Fabio Sandri, chief executive officer for Pilgrim’s. “Given our focus, profitability improved again relative to prior quarter across all regions despite uneven market conditions and persistent consumer inflation.”

Adjusted earnings per share were $1.63 with adjusted net income at $387 million. Adjusted EBITDA was $660.4 million, or a 14.4% margin, almost 7% higher than a year ago.

Pilgrim’s pointed out that its US fresh portfolio improved through progress in operational excellence, strong demand and enhanced mix. 

“Overall chicken demand was strong given competitive pricing and value delivered to the consumer with our key customers expanding faster than category averages in the case ready and small bird segments,” the company stated in its earnings report. “The commodity segment improved given continued progress in production efficiencies and positive market fundamentals.”

Like many other meat producers, Pilgrim’s continued its diversification in value-added products and continues to accelerate. Pilgrim’s branded prepared foods expanded across retail and foodservice through increased distribution and promotional activity. 

In its European business, Pilgrim’s saw adjusted EBIDTA improve nearly 40% compared to 2023 with recent network and back-office optimization efforts, enhanced mix with key customers and further output of its branded offerings. The company pointed to its Richmond and Fridge Raiders brands growing faster than category averages. New product introductions continue to gain momentum as the business launched over 280 new products during the quarter.  

“Our new product pipeline has generated significant marketplace interest,” Sandri said. “We received multiple industry awards during the quarter for innovation, quality and functionality for our recently launched items.” 

The Mexican market results for Pilgrim’s followed a seasonality pattern. Diversification efforts continued to progress as branded sales rose by over 20%. 

“Mexico continued to successfully drive all pillars of our strategies during typical seasonality for the business,” Sandri said. “As a result, we are increasingly well positioned to capture both short- and long-term growth opportunities.”

Earlier in the week, Pilgrim’s Pride also detailed its 2023 sustainability report and some of the company's progress toward those goals.