Tyson Foods
Tyson Foods' revenue rose 2.1% to $54.4 billion in fiscal 2025. Its operating margin was 2.0%, down from 2.6% a year earlier. Free cash flow was $1.2 billion, down 19.3%. It paid out $697 million in dividends and buybacks, 59% of free cash flow. The diluted share count rose 0.3%.
Operating margin is operating income as a share of revenue. Free cash flow is cash from operations minus capital spending. Return on capital is after-tax operating income as a share of the money invested in the business: debt plus equity, minus cash. Market cap is the last closing share price times the latest diluted share count, so it is approximate. P/E is the last close divided by diluted earnings per share over the last four quarters, or the latest fiscal year where the quarters aren't available; there is none when the company made a loss.
What Tyson Foods does
Tyson Foods is a food company that raises, processes and sells meat and prepared foods. Founded in 1935, it is based in Springdale, Arkansas, and had approximately 133,000 employees at the end of fiscal 2025. Its brands include Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, Wright, State Fair and Aidells. It sells to grocery stores and wholesalers, warehouse clubs, restaurants and restaurant distributors, the military, schools, hospitals, convenience stores and export buyers.
It reports four segments: Beef, Pork, Chicken and Prepared Foods. Beef and Pork process live cattle and hogs into cuts of meat, including case-ready and fully cooked products. Chicken is fully vertically integrated, which means Tyson handles breeding stock, contract farmers, feed, processing and transport. Prepared Foods makes frozen and refrigerated items such as bacon, sausage, hot dogs, sandwiches and prepared meals. A fifth group, International/Other, covers foreign operations in places such as China, Mexico and Thailand.
Costs for animals and feed matter a great deal to the business. Corn, soybean meal and other feed ingredients represented roughly 53% of its cost of growing a live chicken in fiscal 2025. Tyson relies on contract farmers and independent producers for livestock. Through its subsidiary Cobb-Vantress it is also a supplier of poultry breeding stock, and through Tyson New Ventures it invests in new food technology companies.
Its biggest risks, as it describes them
- Swings in commodity prices and in the supply of feed grains, live cattle, live hogs and other inputs.
- Disease outbreaks that disrupt its operations or the supply and demand for its products.
- Losing one or more of its largest customers.
- Changes in what consumers want, or failing to launch new products and keep its brands strong against private label products.
- Labor shortages and rising labor costs, and its reliance on contract farmers and independent producers for livestock.
Charts show fiscal years, from the 10-K filings.
Revenue and margins
Net income and earnings per share
From fiscal 2016 to 2025, earnings per share fell 12.7% a year and net income 13.6% a year, while buybacks cut the share count by 8%.
Returns on capital
Cash flow
Payouts and share count
Valuation
Two ways to value Tyson Foods yourself, both starting from its filings: a discounted cash flow model and the price-to-earnings method.
Discounted cash flow (DCF)
A discounted cash flow (DCF) model values a business as the cash it may generate in future, discounted back to today. The starting figures come from Tyson Foods' 10-K (or, for net cash and shares, its latest 10-Q) and the assumptions are yours: start from one of three example scenarios, then change any figure to see what it implies for a share, and how that compares with the last share price.
Value per share on three example scenarios, from Tyson Foods' fiscal 2025 free cash flow of $1.2B, net cash of −$7.6B at September 27, 2025 and 357 million diluted shares, from its filings. The scenarios are fitted to Tyson Foods: the base scenario's growth in years 1 to 5 is its revenue growth over the last 3 years, 0.7% a year; the cautious and optimistic ones are lower and higher, and growth in years 6 to 10 is halfway to the long-run rate. The base scenario's discount rate is 8%: 7% for a stable business (Packaged Foods & Meats), plus 1 point for unsteady results (a loss in fiscal 2023); the cautious and optimistic ones use a point more and a point less. Select one to load it into the calculator. These are the model's arithmetic on those assumptions, not a forecast or a price target.
- Last close, October 26, 2026
- $56.40
- Value on these assumptions, against the last close
- —
- Cash flows in years 1 to 10, valued today
- —
- Everything after year 10, valued today
- —
- Plus net cash
- —
- Share of value from after year 10
How the value changes with two assumptions
Price-to-earnings (P/E) method
Another common way to value a company is to multiply its earnings per share by a price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple: the number of years of today's earnings an investor pays for a share. A higher multiple usually means investors expect earnings to grow. Choose a multiple, for example from similar companies, to see the value it gives.
Value per share on three example scenarios, from Tyson Foods' earnings per share of $1.62 (over the last four quarters). Each grows earnings for a year at the cash flow scenarios' rates and applies a multiple to next year's earnings: 24×, the middle of Tyson Foods' own P/E today, its peers' median and its sector's median (the Consumer Staples median) for the base scenario, 20% less and more for the cautious and optimistic ones. The price is brought back a year at 9%, 8% and 7%. Select one to load it into the calculator. These are the model's arithmetic on those assumptions, not a forecast or a price target.
- Last close, October 26, 2026
- $56.40
- Value at this multiple, against the last close
- —
- Tyson Foods' P/E at the last close
- 34.8×
| Company | Last close | Earnings per share | P/E today |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tyson FoodsTSN | $56.40 | $1.62 | 34.8× |
| Mondelez InternationalMDLZ | $62.97 | $2.02 | 31.2× |
| Pilgrim's PridePPC | $27.33 | $2.30 | 11.9× |
Balance sheet
| Fiscal year end | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash and short-term investments | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 1.7 | 1.2 |
| Debt incl. finance leases | 9.3 | 8.3 | 9.5 | 9.8 | 8.8 |
| Net debt (negative means net cash) | 6.8 | 7.3 | 8.9 | 8.1 | 7.6 |
| Net debt to EBITDA | 1.2x | 1.3x | 9.6x | 2.9x | 3.1x |
| Debt to equity | 0.5x | 0.4x | 0.5x | 0.5x | 0.5x |
| Interest coverage | 10.3x | 12.1x | −1.1x | 2.9x | 2.5x |
| Current ratio | 1.6x | 1.8x | 1.3x | 2.0x | 1.6x |
| Quick ratio | 0.9x | 0.8x | 0.5x | 0.9x | 0.7x |
Insider trades
Over the 12 months between October 27, 2025 and October 26, 2026, 1 insider bought $1.0 million of Tyson Foods shares on the open market, and 2 insiders sold $6.2 million.
| Date | Insider | Trade | Shares | Price | Value | Filing |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sep 4, 2026 | Jeffrey K SchomburgerPresident & CEO Elect, Director | Bought | 19,450 | $51.50 | $1.0 million | Form 4 |
| Nov 28, 2025 | John H TysonChairman of the Board, Director | Sold | 100,301 | $58.05 | $5.8 million | Form 4 |
| Nov 25, 2025 | Curt CalawayChief Financial Officer | Sold | 6,539 | $57.19 | $373,965 | Form 4 |
Piotroski F-score
The F-score counts how many of nine simple tests of profitability, funding and efficiency a company passed in a year (Piotroski, 2000). The more tests passed, the stronger the year: 8 or 9 is strong, 0 to 2 weak. Companies that report no gross profit are scored on the other eight.
| Test | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Net income is positive | Fail | Pass | Pass |
| Cash from operations is positive | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Return on assets rose | Fail | Pass | Fail |
| Cash from operations exceeds net income | Pass | Pass | Pass |
| Debt fell relative to assets | Fail | Fail | Pass |
| Current ratio rose | Fail | Pass | Fail |
| Share count didn't rise | Pass | Fail | Fail |
| Gross margin rose | Fail | Pass | Fail |
| Revenue rose relative to assets | Fail | Pass | Fail |
| F-score | 3 of 9 | 7 of 9 | 4 of 9 |
| Accruals ratio | −6.6% | −4.9% | −4.6% |
Compare
Put Tyson Foods side by side with any other company we cover: revenue, growth, margins, cash flow and returns, with ten years of charts.
Similar companies
| Company | Year | Revenue growth | Operating margin | Free cash flow margin | Return on capital | Net debt to EBITDA | F-score | Compare |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tyson Foods | FY25 | 2.1% | 2.0% | 2.2% | 2.8% | 3.1x | 4 | |
| Mondelez International | FY25 | 5.8% | 9.2% | 8.4% | 6.0% | 3.9x | 5 | Compare |
| Kraft Heinz | FY25 | −3.5% | −18.7% | 14.7% | −5.8% | — | 4 | Compare |
| Pilgrim's Pride | FY25 | 3.5% | 8.7% | 3.5% | 20.1% | 1.2x | 4 | Compare |
| General Mills | FY26 | −5.5% | 4.8% | 8.8% | 2.0% | 9.1x | 5 | Compare |
10 years of figures
| Fiscal year | FY16 | FY17 | FY18 | FY19 | FY20 | FY21 | FY22 | FY23 | FY24 | FY25 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Income statement | ||||||||||
| Revenue | 36.9 | 38.3 | 40.1 | 42.4 | 43.2 | 47.0 | 53.3 | 52.9 | 53.3 | 54.4 |
| Revenue growth | −10.9% | 3.7% | 4.7% | 5.9% | 1.8% | 8.9% | 13.2% | −0.8% | 0.8% | 2.1% |
| Gross profit | 4.7 | 5.1 | 5.1 | 5.0 | 5.4 | 6.5 | 6.7 | 2.6 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| Research and development | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Operating income | 2.8 | 2.9 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 3.0 | 4.4 | 4.4 | −0.4 | 1.4 | 1.1 |
| Net income | 1.8 | 1.8 | 3.0 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 3.0 | 3.2 | −0.6 | 0.8 | 0.5 |
| Diluted EPS (US$) | 4.53 | 4.79 | 8.04 | 5.40 | 5.64 | 8.34 | 8.92 | −1.87 | 2.25 | 1.33 |
| Diluted shares (millions) | 390 | 370 | 369 | 366 | 365 | 365 | 363 | 284 | 356 | 357 |
| Cash flow | ||||||||||
| Cash from operations | 2.7 | 2.6 | 3.0 | 2.5 | 3.9 | 3.8 | 2.7 | 1.8 | 2.6 | 2.2 |
| Capital expenditure | 0.7 | 1.1 | 1.2 | 1.3 | 1.2 | 1.2 | 1.9 | 1.9 | 1.1 | 1.0 |
| Free cash flow | 2.0 | 1.5 | 1.8 | 1.3 | 2.7 | 2.6 | 0.8 | −0.2 | 1.5 | 1.2 |
| Dividends paid | 0.2 | 0.3 | 0.4 | 0.5 | 0.6 | 0.6 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| Share buybacks | 1.9 | 0.9 | 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Acquisitions | 0.0 | 3.1 | 1.5 | 2.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.3 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Stock-based compensation | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 | 0.1 |
| Balance sheet at fiscal year end | ||||||||||
| Cash and short-term investments | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.5 | 1.4 | 2.5 | 1.0 | 0.6 | 1.7 | 1.2 |
| Debt incl. finance leases | 6.3 | 10.2 | 9.9 | 11.9 | 11.3 | 9.3 | 8.3 | 9.5 | 9.8 | 8.8 |
| Total assets | 22.4 | 28.1 | 29.0 | 32.9 | 34.5 | 36.3 | 36.8 | 36.3 | 37.1 | 36.7 |
| Total liabilities | 12.7 | 17.5 | 16.4 | 18.8 | 19.1 | 18.5 | 17.0 | 18.0 | 18.6 | 18.4 |
| Shareholders' equity | 9.6 | 10.5 | 12.8 | 13.9 | 15.3 | 17.7 | 19.7 | 18.1 | 18.4 | 18.1 |
| Margins and ratios | ||||||||||
| Gross margin | 12.7% | 13.2% | 12.7% | 11.8% | 12.5% | 13.9% | 12.5% | 5.0% | 6.8% | 6.5% |
| Operating margin | 7.7% | 7.6% | 7.4% | 6.5% | 7.0% | 9.3% | 8.3% | −0.8% | 2.6% | 2.0% |
| Net margin | 4.8% | 4.6% | 7.4% | 4.7% | 4.8% | 6.5% | 6.1% | −1.2% | 1.5% | 0.9% |
| Free cash flow margin | 5.5% | 4.0% | 4.4% | 3.0% | 6.2% | 5.6% | 1.5% | −0.3% | 2.7% | 2.2% |
| Return on capital | 12.4% | 11.0% | 13.9% | 9.7% | 9.2% | 13.3% | 13.3% | −1.1% | 3.9% | 2.8% |
| Return on equity | 18.3% | 17.6% | 25.4% | 14.8% | 14.1% | 18.5% | 17.3% | −3.4% | 4.4% | 2.6% |
| Return on assets | 7.8% | 7.0% | 10.4% | 6.4% | 6.1% | 8.6% | 8.9% | −1.8% | 2.2% | 1.3% |
| Net debt to EBITDA | 1.7x | 2.7x | 2.5x | 3.0x | 2.4x | 1.2x | 1.3x | 9.6x | 2.9x | 3.1x |