HORMEL FOODS CORP /DE/ (HRL)

Hormel Foods Corporation, a Delaware corporation, was founded by George A. Hormel in 1891 in Austin, Minnesota, as Geo. A. Hormel & Company. It began as a processor of meat and food products and has grown, through organic expansion and acquisitions, into a global branded food company with more than $12 billion in annual revenue. Its portfolio includes Planters, SPAM, Jennie-O, Skippy, Applegate, Wholly, Hormel Black Label, Fontanini, Bacon1 and Hormel pepperoni, along with more than 30 other brands. The company is a member of the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Dividend Aristocrats.

Hormel operates three reportable segments. Retail processes, markets and sells food products mainly through U.S. retail channels, and includes the results of the MegaMex Foods joint venture, a U.S.-based Mexican food company in which Hormel holds a minority interest. Foodservice sells to distributors and operators serving food away from home in the U.S. International sells the company's products through retail and foodservice channels abroad, and includes international joint ventures, equity method investments, royalty arrangements and operations in China and Brazil. Its products consist primarily of meat, nuts and other food products, with a focus on branded, value-added items. Hormel also has minority interests in The Purefoods-Hormel Company in the Philippines (40 percent) and Garudafood in Indonesia (approximately 30 percent), and licenses other companies to make products internationally on a royalty basis.

Hormel sells in all 50 U.S. states and has a presence in major international markets including Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, England, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, the Philippines, Singapore and South Korea. Retail customers include grocery stores, mass merchandisers, club stores, natural food chains, drug, dollar and discount chains, and e-commerce providers. Foodservice customers include restaurants, hospitality, healthcare, K-12, colleges and universities, and convenience stores. Walmart is the largest customer at 15.6 percent of consolidated gross sales less returns and allowances in fiscal 2025, and the top five customers together represented about 38 percent.

Hormel makes its products in its own processing facilities and through co-manufacturers. Its principal raw materials are pork, turkey, beef, chicken and nuts. It buys hogs for its Austin, Minnesota facility, uses long-term pork supply agreements and spot purchases, and raises most of the turkeys it needs. It also buys from other suppliers, sources some materials such as cashews internationally, and uses futures, swaps, options, supply contracts and forward buying to manage input costs. Sales are handled by company sales personnel in assigned territories or dedicated customer teams, plus independent brokers and distributors, and products are mainly shipped by common carriers. Hormel competes with pork and turkey manufacturers and with national and regional producers of beef, chicken, fish, nuts and plant-based proteins, on price, quality, brand identification, product breadth and service. As of October 26, 2025, it had approximately 20,000 employees, over 90 percent in the U.S. It holds thirteen U.S. and six foreign patents and a broad set of registered trademarks.