Tyson Foods: Eat More (Fill in the Protein) - Upgraded to Neutral

Research evidence excerpt

Tyson Foods: Eat More (Fill in the Protein) - Upgraded to Neutral

J P M O R G A N North America Credit Research

30 June 2026

▲Neutral

Tyson Foods Previous: Underweight

TSN

Eat More (Fill in the Protein) - Upgraded to Neutral Moody's: Baa2 Outlook: STABLE

S&P: BBB Outlook: POS

Fitch: BBB Outlook: STABLE

The above agency ratings are at the corporate level

We are upgrading Tyson Foods (TSN) to Neutral from Underweight as the

company has performed well despite a tough macro environment - beef cycle at North America Corporate Credit -

trough, consumer looking for value. TSN has maintained leverage in the low-2x Consumer, Retailing, and Food &

range (2.2x net leverage vs. its target of net leverage less than or equal to 2x). On Beverage

a relative value basis, TSN trades ~25bp inside of its peer JBS (OW), which is a Carla Casella, CFA AC

notch lower rated and slightly more “beef” exposed. Over time, we expect JBS to (1-212) 270-6798

tighten toward TSN, but we don’t expect TSN to widen toward JBS. We believe carla.casella@jpmorgan.com

that fair value for TSN 10yr benchmark is in the 85-90bps range, inside the average Yaakov Musheyev

BBB (+107) given the defensive nature of food and on-trend nature of “proteins.” (1-212) 834 5865

yaakov.a.musheyev@jpmorgan.com

Upside risks to our Neutral rating include further outperformance of chicken in the

protein space and if TSN uses cash flow to further pay down debt (accelerating Morgan Morrissey

(1-212) 834-2383

deleveraging). Downside risks include margin compression from increased cattle morgan.morrissey@jpmorgan.com

costs (cattle cycle) or leveraging M&A. J.P. Morgan Securities LLC

Figure 1: HG Food 10yr Benchmark Relative Value and Lev Targets

TKR Rec Corp Rtg Maturity G spread Gross Lev Lev Target