Pilgrim's Pride (PPC) AI Stock Analysis

• Market Cap: $8.47B
• Dividend Yield: N/A
• Average Volume (3M): 954.88K
• Price to Earnings (P/E): 8.7
• Beta (1Y): 0.18
• Revenue Growth: 1.81%
• EPS Growth: 24.67%
• Country: US
• Employees: 62,600
• Sector: Consumer Defensive
• Sector Strength: 42
• Industry: Packaged Foods
• EPS (TTM): 0.62
• Shares Outstanding: 237,547,440
• 10 Day Avg. Volume: 1,022,060
• 30 Day Avg. Volume: 954,885
• PEG Ratio: -19.98
• Price to Book (P/B): 2.57
• Price to Sales (P/S): 0.51
• P/FCF Ratio: 14.30
• Enterprise Value/Market Cap: 1.32
• Enterprise Value/Revenue: 0.60
• Enterprise Value/Gross Profit: 4.73
• Enterprise Value/Ebitda: 5.27
• 1Y Price Target: $43.33
• Price Target Upside: 21.48% Upside
• Rating Consensus: Hold
• Number of Analyst Covering: 3
• EPS Forecast (FY): 4.09
• Revenue Forecast (FY): $18.75B

• Rating: 74 Outperform
• Price Target: $40.00 ▲(12.14% Upside)
• Action: Reiterated Date: 02/13/26
• Date: Action: Reiterated 02/13/26

The score is driven primarily by improved financial performance and a materially stronger balance sheet, supported by an undemanding P/E valuation. Technicals are moderately positive with the stock trading above key moving averages. The latest earnings call tempers the outlook due to Q4 margin compression, Mexico weakness, litigation charges, and higher 2026 capex, which increase near-term volatility risk.

Positive Factors

Balance-sheet deleveraging and liquidity

A materially stronger capital structure and low leverage reduce financial risk and interest burden, giving management durable flexibility to fund operations, invest and absorb shocks. This improves resilience through commodity cycles and supports strategic spending without immediate refinancing pressure.

Improved cash generation and positive free cash flow

Sustained operating cash generation and positive free cash flow strengthen the company's ability to fund capex, pay down debt, and invest in higher-margin initiatives. Over a multi-quarter horizon this underpins capital allocation optionality and limits reliance on external financing despite prior cyclical FCF volatility.

Prepared-foods brand momentum (Just BARE)

Strong branded growth shifts mix toward higher-margin prepared foods and builds durable retail presence. Market-share gains and accelerated brand velocity reduce reliance on commodity tray-pack volumes, supporting more stable margins and long-term growth from value-added products and distribution scale.

Negative Factors

Margin volatility and recent Q4 compression

Significant margin deterioration highlights structural exposure to commodity pricing and mix shifts. Persistent margin volatility undermines earnings predictability and free cash flow stability, complicating long-term planning and increasing the execution burden on pricing, procurement and product-mix strategies.

Mexico profitability deterioration and import pressure

Sustained margin erosion in Mexico reflects competitive import dynamics and weaker live-market fundamentals. Regional structural pressure can persist absent price or cost fixes, reducing the benefit of geographic diversification and requiring capital or strategic repositioning to restore long-run profitability.

Elevated near-term capital expenditure requirements

Higher sustained capex to expand capacity and convert plants increases cash investment needs and execution risk. While capacity projects can drive future margin improvement, elevated spending pressures near-term free cash flow and requires disciplined returns on incremental investment to avoid diluting balance-sheet gains.

Pilgrim's Pride Business Overview & Revenue Model

Company Description

Pilgrim's Pride Corporation engages in the production, processing, marketing and distribution of fresh, frozen and value-added chicken, and pork products to retailers, distributors, and foodservice operators in the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, the Middle East, Asia, Continental Europe, and internationally. The company offers fresh products, including pre-marinated or non-marinated chicken, frozen whole chickens, breast fillets, mini breast fillets and prepackaged case-ready chicken, primary pork cuts, and pork and pork ribs; prepared products, which include portion-controlled breast fillets, tenderloins and strips, delicatessen products, salads, formed nuggets and patties, and bone-in chicken parts; processed sausages, bacon, slow cooked, smoked meat, gammon joints, as well as variety of meat products, pre-packed meats, sandwich and deli counter meats, pulled pork balls, meatballs, and coated foods. In addition, its exported products include whole chickens and chicken parts sold either refrigerated for distributors in the U.S. or frozen for distribution to export markets and primary pork cuts, hog heads and trotters frozen for distribution to export markets. The company offers its products under the Pilgrim's, Just BARE, Gold'n Pump, Gold Kist, County Pride, Pierce Chicken, Pilgrim's Mexico, County Post, Savoro, To-Ricos, Del Dia, Moy Park, O'Kane, Richmond, Fridge Raiders, and Denny brands. Pilgrim's Pride Corporation sells its products to the foodservice market principally consists of chain restaurants, food processors, broad-line distributors, and other institutions; and retail market, which comprise primarily grocery store chains, wholesale clubs, and other retail distributors. The company was founded in 1946 and is headquartered in Greeley, Colorado. Pilgrim's Pride Corporation operates as a subsidiary of JBS S.A.

How the Company Makes Money

Pilgrim’s Pride makes money by producing and selling poultry products across multiple channels and product formats. Its revenue model is primarily volume- and price-driven: the company processes chicken and sells finished products to (1) retail customers (e.g., packaged fresh and frozen chicken and value-added items), (2) foodservice customers (restaurants, quick-service chains, and institutional buyers), and (3) industrial customers (food manufacturers purchasing chicken as an ingredient). A meaningful portion of earnings can come from higher-margin value-added and prepared foods (such as seasoned, marinated, cooked, or otherwise further-processed items) compared with commodity tray-pack or bulk chicken. Profitability is influenced by the spread between selling prices and key input costs (notably feed ingredients and labor/processing costs), product mix (value-added vs. commodity), and demand conditions in its end markets. The company also generates revenue from selling different parts of the bird into different markets, including domestic sales and exports, where pricing and demand can vary by cut and geography; optimizing this “whole-bird” utilization supports overall returns. Significant factors contributing to earnings typically include long-term relationships with major retail and foodservice customers, the ability to supply consistent volumes at required specifications, and operational scale in processing and distribution. Specific material partnership terms, customer concentration figures, or segment-level revenue splits are not provided here: null.

Pilgrim's Pride Financial Statement Overview

Summary

Strong recent-cycle improvement: revenue accelerated into 2025 with a meaningful margin rebound (net margin ~5.9% in 2025 vs ~1.9% in 2023; gross margin ~12.7% vs ~6.4%). Balance-sheet leverage improved sharply by 2025 (debt-to-equity ~0.05x), reducing financial risk. Offsetting factor is historical volatility in margins and free cash flow (negative FCF in 2021 and weaker 2022–2023).

Income Statement

Revenue has grown steadily over the cycle, with a sharp acceleration in 2025 (annual revenue up strongly versus 2024). Profitability also improved meaningfully from the weaker 2023 backdrop: net margin rebounded to ~5.9% in 2025 from ~1.9% in 2023, and gross margin nearly doubled from ~6.4% (2023) to ~12.7% (2025). Offsetting these positives, margins have been volatile across years (notably 2021–2023), which is typical for the category but still raises earnings stability risk.

Balance Sheet

Leverage improved dramatically by 2025, with total debt falling to ~$0.2B and debt-to-equity dropping to ~0.05x (from ~0.82x in 2024 and >1.0x in 2021–2023), signaling a much stronger capital structure. Equity remains sizable (~$3.7B), and returns on equity are strong in 2024–2025 (~26%–29%), consistent with improved profitability. The main watch item is the sharp year-over-year debt change (2024 to 2025), which suggests a major paydown or reclassification and can make trend comparisons less smooth.

Cash Flow

Cash generation strengthened substantially in 2024–2025, with operating cash flow at ~$2.0B in 2024 and ~$1.37B in 2025, and free cash flow positive and sizable (including a very large jump in 2025 versus 2024 per the provided growth figure). Free cash flow tracked earnings well in 2024 (about 76% of net income) and was exceptionally strong relative to earnings in 2025 (about 100%). The weaker point is consistency: free cash flow was negative in 2021 and much lower in 2022–2023, indicating higher cash-flow volatility through the cycle.

Breakdown	Dec 2025	Dec 2024	Dec 2023	Dec 2022	Dec 2021
Income Statement
Total Revenue	18.50B	17.88B	17.36B	17.47B	14.78B
Gross Profit	2.36B	2.31B	1.12B	1.81B	1.37B
EBITDA	2.12B	2.01B	987.39M	1.58B	619.01M
Net Income	1.08B	1.09B	321.57M	745.93M	31.00M
Balance Sheet
Total Assets	10.34B	10.65B	9.81B	9.26B	8.91B
Cash, Cash Equivalents and Short-Term Investments	640.24M	2.05B	697.75M	400.99M	427.66M
Total Debt	3.35B	3.47B	3.61B	3.53B	3.57B
Total Liabilities	6.65B	6.40B	6.47B	6.40B	6.32B
Stockholders Equity	3.68B	4.24B	3.33B	2.84B	2.58B
Cash Flow
Free Cash Flow	660.58M	1.51B	134.06M	182.75M	-55.21M
Operating Cash Flow	1.37B	1.99B	677.88M	669.86M	326.46M
Investing Cash Flow	-705.51M	-460.80M	-503.35M	-445.25M	-1.32B
Financing Cash Flow	-2.11B	-150.91M	116.73M	-232.01M	901.31M

Pilgrim's Pride Technical Analysis

• Technical Analysis Sentiment: Negative
• Last Price: 35.67
• 50DMA: Negative
• 100DMA: Negative
• 200DMA: Negative
• MACD: Positive
• RSI: Positive
• STOCH: Positive

Evaluating momentum and price trends is crucial in stock analysis to make informed investment decisions. For PPC, the sentiment is Negative. The current price of 35.67 is below the 20-day moving average (MA) of 39.59, below the 50-day MA of 41.11, and below the 200-day MA of 41.50, indicating a bearish trend. The MACD of -1.55 indicates Positive momentum. The RSI at 28.92 is Positive, neither overbought nor oversold. The STOCH value of 16.25 is Positive, not indicating any strong overbought or oversold conditions. Overall, these indicators collectively point to a Negative sentiment for PPC.

Pilgrim's Pride Peers Comparison

Name	Overall Rating	Market Cap	P/E Ratio	ROE	Dividend Yield	Revenue Growth	EPS Growth
PPC	74 Outperform	$8.47B	8.73	30.72%	―	1.81%	24.67%
HRL	68 Neutral	$12.31B	18.81	6.13%	4.82%	1.55%	-40.81%
JBS	66 Neutral	$16.06B	2.67	32.16%	9.72%	―	119.48%
Sector *	62 Neutral	$20.33B	14.63	-3.31%	3.23%	1.93%	-12.26%
SJM	61 Neutral	$10.71B	-3.86	-21.55%	4.45%	-0.66%	-326.55%
CAG	58 Neutral	$7.37B	―	-1.13%	7.87%	-5.82%	-119.70%

Pilgrim's Pride Corporate Events

Pilgrim’s Pride Reports Q4 Revenue Growth Amid Margin Pressure

Pilgrim’s Pride reported financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 28, 2025, showing net revenue of $4.52 billion, up from $4.37 billion a year earlier, but with profitability under pressure as gross profit, operating income and net income all declined year over year and EPS fell to $0.37 from $0.99. Adjusted EBITDA margin contracted to 9.2% from 12.0% as U.S. commodity pricing weighed on its Big Bird business despite growth with key retail and foodservice customers, Europe delivered continued profit improvement through cost and efficiency gains, and Mexico saw profitability weaken amid increased imports, while industry data indicated modestly higher broiler placements, slight growth in egg sets and cold storage inventories that were just above prior-year levels but still below the five-year average.

Selling, general and administrative expenses were lower than in the prior-year quarter due mainly to reduced legal settlements and defense costs, but higher net interest expense reflected lower interest income after dividends paid in 2025 reduced cash balances. Sector-wide supply indicators showed declining pullet placements and a smaller broiler layer flock offset by slightly higher eggs per hundred hens and hatchability, along with a mixed cold storage profile in which total chicken inventories rose modestly, breast meat and whole bird stocks increased, but wings, dark meat and paws inventories declined, underscoring an evolving supply-demand balance that will influence pricing and margins across Pilgrim’s Pride’s key product categories.

The most recent analyst rating on (PPC) stock is a Hold with a $45.00 price target. To see the full list of analyst forecasts on Pilgrim’s Pride stock, see the PPC Stock Forecast page.