Topic: How To Invest

Q: Pat, what is your view of Tyson Foods to hold in a portfolio?

Article Excerpt

A: Tyson Foods Inc., $75.69, symbol TSN on New York (Shares outstanding: 294.8 million; Market cap: $27.1 billion; www.tysonfoods.com), is the biggest U.S. chicken company. And as well as chicken, it produces, distributes and markets beef and pork, along with prepared foods. The company’s products are marketed and sold primarily by its own sales staff to grocery retailers, grocery wholesalers, meat distributors, military commissaries, industrial food-processing companies, chain restaurants, international export companies and domestic distributors. Founded in 1935 by John W. Tyson and expanded under three generations of family leadership, the company has a broad portfolio of products; its brands include Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, Wright, Aidells, ibp and State Fair. Headquartered in Arkansas, Tyson boasts that the majority of its production is certified as antibiotics free at all levels—from feed cultivation to chicken and cattle rearing. Its integrated operations consist of breeding stock, contract farming, feed production, processing and further-processing, marketing and the transportation of chicken and related…