HRL
Hormel Foods Corporation
HRL's fundamentals are weak and it looks expensive: trading at 35x earnings, above its usual 25x. Analysts expect earnings growth.
HRL Fundamentals
| Metric | Status |
|---|---|
| Stable | |
| Stable | |
| Healthy | |
| Stable |
HRL's cash flow is currently healthy, and its revenue, profitability and balance sheet are stable.
HRL PE Valuation
| Level | PE | Price | Vs current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Forward | 14x | $21.83 | — |
| Cheap | 22x | $13.75 | -37% |
| Fair | 25x | $15.90 | -27% |
| Expensive | 29x | $18.34 | -16% |
| Current | 35x | $21.83 | — |
Historical ranges are pointers, not guarantees.
HRL's PE is in its expensive range at 35x. If earnings grow as analysts expect, today's price would be 14x next year's earnings, in its cheap range.
HRL Forward outlook
| Metric | Outlook |
|---|---|
| Strongly improving | |
| Growth | |
| Stable | |
| Improving | |
| Limited | |
| High |
Analysts expect HRL's earnings to grow and its profitability to improve, with its revenue holding steady.
HRL Earnings Per Share
| Quarter | TTM EPS | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Forward | $1.57 | +149% |
| Q3 2026 | $0.63 | -54% |
| Q2 2026 | $0.85 | -38% |
| Q1 2026 | $0.89 | -36% |
| Q4 2025 | $0.87 | -41% |
| Q3 2025 | $1.38 | -2.1% |
| Q2 2025 | $1.37 | -1.4% |
| Q1 2025 | $1.38 | -4.8% |
| Q4 2024 | $1.47 | +1.4% |
HRL's earnings per share have fallen from their peak: $0.63 over the past year, against $1.83 in mid-2022.
HRL Quarterly Revenue
| Quarter | Revenue | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $3B | -2.4% |
| Q2 2026 | $3B | +2.5% |
| Q1 2026 | $3B | +1.3% |
| Q4 2025 | $3.2B | +1.5% |
| Q3 2025 | $3B | +4.6% |
| Q2 2025 | $2.9B | +0.4% |
| Q1 2025 | $3B | -0.3% |
| Q4 2024 | $3.1B | -1.9% |
HRL's revenue grew through 2021 and has held roughly level since: $3B last quarter, down 2.4% from the same quarter a year ago.
| Quarter | Margin | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 3.8% | -4.2 points |
| Q2 2026 | 7.3% | -1.3 points |
| Q1 2026 | 8.1% | +0.4 points |
| Q4 2025 | 0.1% | -9.3 points |
| Q3 2025 | 7.9% | -0.3 points |
| Q2 2025 | 8.6% | -0.2 points |
| Q1 2025 | 7.6% | -1.9 points |
| Q4 2024 | 9.4% | +0.9 points |
HRL's operating margin was 3.8% last quarter, down 4.2 points from the same quarter a year ago, near the bottom of its range since 2019.
HRL Free Cash Flow
| Quarter | Free cash flow | YoY |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | $172.4M | +104% |
| Q2 2026 | $96.8M | +$115.4M |
| Q1 2026 | $280.2M | +18% |
| Q4 2025 | $231.4M | -29% |
| Q3 2025 | $84.5M | -45% |
| Q2 2025 | -$18.6M | -111% |
| Q1 2025 | $237M | -34% |
| Q4 2024 | $324.8M | +49% |
HRL generated $781M in free cash flow over the past year, up 24% from the year before.
HRL Total Shares
| Period | Change % | Net change |
|---|---|---|
| Quarterly | 0% | +159K shares |
| 1 year | +0.1% | +351K shares |
| 3 years | +0.4% | +2.4M shares |
| 5 years | +0.5% | +3M shares |
| Available history | +1.1% | +5.8M shares |
HRL has 551M diluted shares, about the same as a year ago.
| Quarter | Spent |
|---|---|
| Q4 2024 | — |
| Q3 2024 | — |
| Q4 2023 | — |
| Q3 2023 | — |
| Q4 2022 | — |
| Q3 2022 | — |
| Q2 2022 | — |
| Q1 2022 | — |
HRL Net Leverage
| Quarter | Net Leverage | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Q3 2026 | 2.4x | Moderate |
| Q2 2026 | 2.1x | Moderate |
| Q1 2026 | 2.0x | Healthy |
| Q4 2025 | 2.2x | Moderate |
| Q3 2025 | 1.8x | Healthy |
| Q2 2025 | 1.7x | Healthy |
| Q1 2025 | 1.6x | Healthy |
| Q4 2024 | 1.6x | Healthy |
HRL's net debt is about 2.4 years of its operating earnings (EBITDA), up from 1.8 years a year ago.
HRL Weekly Momentum
| Metric | Value | Status |
|---|---|---|
| RSI | 48.0 | Neutral |
| Stochastic | 41.3 | Neutral |
HRL's weekly RSI is 48 (neutral) and its Stochastic is 41 (neutral).
HRL PE vs Consumer Defensive Sector
| Metric | HRL | Sector median | Relative |
|---|---|---|---|
| PE | 35x | 19x | 78% above |
| PE % | 100 | 18 | 82 pts above |
HRL is trading at 35x earnings, a 78% premium to the Consumer Defensive sector's median of 19x.
HRL Weekly Moving Averages
| Moving average | MA price | Relative |
|---|---|---|
| 8 week MA | $20.7 | 5.4% above |
| 20 week MA | $22.5 | 2.8% below |
| 50 week MA | $23.0 | 4.9% below |
| 100 week MA | $25.6 | 15% below |
| 200 week MA | $30.5 | 28% below |
HRL has bounced recently, but its long-term trend is still down: it's above its 8-week average, but 28% below its 200-week average.
HRL Yearly ROI
| Year | Start price | End price | ROI |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | $45.3 | $47.2 | +4.2% |
| 2021 | $47.2 | $47.8 | +1.3% |
| 2022 | $47.8 | $45.6 | -4.5% |
| 2023 | $45.6 | $32.1 | -30% |
| 2024 | $32.1 | $31.9 | -0.8% |
| 2025 | $31.9 | $24.3 | -24% |
| 2026 YTD | $24.3 | $21.8 | -10% |
HRL has finished four years in a row lower, and it's down 10% so far in 2026.