Hormel Foods Corp. (HRL): Takeaways from management meetings

Research evidence excerpt

Hormel Foods Corp. (HRL): Takeaways from management meetings

Equity Research

25 June 2026 | 10:11AM CDT

We hosted investor meetings with HRL management in NYC on June 24th, including Leah Jordan, CFA

+1(713)658-2691 | leah.jordan@gs.com

John Ghingo (President) and Paul Kuehneman (Interim CFO and Controller). Overall, Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

we came away encouraged by recent improvements in the business with momentum Eli Thompson

building across its three segments (retail, foodservice, and international), including +1(713)904-8289eli.thompson@gs.com|

demand strength for its value-added protein portfolio while elasticities have tracked Goldman Sachs & Co. LLC

as expected and input costs are within plan.

Key Takeaways

n Retail: Within its Retail segment, HRL remains focused on its eight priority

brands, including Jennie-O, Hormel Chili, Hormel Black Label Bacon, Hormel

Pepperoni, Planters, SPAM, Applegate, and Skippy, which should receive a

disproportionate level of investment going forward (e.g., RGM, PPA, digital).

Collectively, these priority brands drove ~2% consumption growth last quarter,

highlighting outsized strength in Applegate, Jennie-O, and Hormel Black Label

bacon. However, Planters and Skippy lagged, with Planters impacted by

challenges with cashews (peanuts are doing well) and the brand should receive

an outsized investment focus while Skippy is tied to a pullback in its promo spend

to protect its everyday business after the facility fire (the full promo spend

should be in place for 2H), plus we note longer-term opportunities for Skippy to

expand into more formats and use occasions. Management also noted solid

momentum for Hormel Gatherings party trays and its Mexican portfolio (Herdez

and Wholly Gaucamole), which are bets for the future.