SPRINGDALE, ARK. — Changes made in the past few years to Tyson Foods, Inc.’s Chicken and Prepared Foods business units allowed the company to benefit from improved market conditions during the third quarter of fiscal 2024. Better supply chain agility, improved demand planning and customer service all combined to boost performance.

Hindering the company were factors outside of its control — most notably the continued contraction of the US cattle herd — that may have repercussions into fiscal 2025.

“I want to emphasize that the operational improvements we’ve been driving are enabling us to benefit from the market tailwinds,” said Donnie King, president and chief executive officer, during an Aug. 5 conference call to discuss results. “All of our businesses are more agile, collaborative and disciplined than they have been in some time.”

Net income for the quarter ended June 29 was $191 million, equal to 55¢ per share on the common stock, and an improvement over the third quarter of fiscal 2023 when the company recorded a loss of $417 million. Contributing to the loss in 2023 was an impairment charge of $448 million.

Quarterly sales rose to $13.4 billion from $13.1 billion the year before.

In Chicken, quarterly sales fell 3.2% to $4.08 billion from $4.21 billion the year before, but the unit’s quarterly operating income swung dramatically from a loss of $314 million in 2023 to a profit of $244 million in 2024.

“Chicken had one of its best quarters in some time, but we are clearly benefiting from better market conditions, including lower grain costs, our actions and focus on the fundamentals across all aspects of the value chain are also contributing to these strong results,” King said.

Such fundamentals include an improved hatch rate and livability in the company’s live operations as well as improved efficiencies in plants, better demand planning and customer service.

“While volume is roughly flat year-over-year, as we continue to better align supply with customer demand, it was up approximately 2% from Q3 of fiscal 2022,” said Curt Calaway, interim chief financial officer.

Volume growth in Prepared Foods propelled sales up 2.1% to $2.43 billion from $2.38 billion the year before, according to the company. Segment operating income was flat at $203 million compared with $206 million the year before.

“In foodservice, we continue to broaden our customer base, grow in margin accretive channels, and expand our presence in broad line distribution categories,” King said. “This led to overall volume and sales growth in Q3.”

The company’s Beef business unit struggled during the quarter due to fewer cattle in the US cattle herd.

“While pasture conditions have improved this year … meaningful herd rebuilding has not emerged,” King said. “We continue to be laser-focused on the things we can control, such as labor utilization, yield, and mix management to meet consumer demand and customer needs as we manage through the challenges of the cattle cycle.”

Beef business unit sales rose to $5.24 billion from $4.96 billion the year before, but the unit’s operating income swung to a loss of $69 million during the quarter from $66 million in 2023.

“In Beef, revenue was up 5.8% year over year in the quarter primarily due to the volume impact of higher average carcass weights, with pricing increasing 1.4%,” Calaway said. “While revenue increased, AOI (adjusted operating income) decreased primarily reflecting compressed spreads as expected, which more than offset our continued progress on operational efficiencies.”

Tyson Foods’ Pork business unit had sales of $1.46 billion during the quarter, up from $1.32 billion the year before. The business recorded an operating income loss of $62 million, an improvement over the year prior when the unit recorded a loss of $74 million.

Management reaffirmed the company’s guidance of AOI in a range of $1.6 billion to $1.8 billion for the year, with sales flat compared to fiscal 2023 when the company had sales of $52.9 billion.