Companies and Brands

Tyson's Shares Rise on Asset Sale, Outlook

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Shares of Tyson Foods Inc. (NYSE: TSN) have bounced around Monday morning as investors try to decide whether the company’s earnings and its plans to issue more equity are good or bad news. When the earnings were first announced, shares traded up nearly 1% before the announcement of the equity offering came out. That knocked shares down nearly 1.5%, and shortly before the opening bell on Monday morning the stock was up about 3.7%.

It appears that investors are satisfied that the sale of its Mexican and Brazilian operations and the issuance of 24 million new Class A shares and 30 million tangible equity units are in the company’s — and its stockholders’ — best interests. The sale of the shares and equity units could raise at least $2 billion to help pay down the borrowing related to the acquisition of Hillshire Brands for around $8.6 billion earlier this year.

Tyson said it had commenced the sale of the Class A shares and that the underwriters have a 30-day overallotment option on an additional 3.6 million shares. Morgan Stanley and J.P. Morgan are acting as lead joint book-runners on the share offering and the tangible equity offering. The company will not grant an overallotment option on the tangible equity units.

Each tangible equity unit carries a stated amount of $50 and includes a prepaid stock purchase contract and a senior amortizing note due July 15, 2017.

The final item helping push up shares is the company’s forecast that earnings per share will rise at least 10% in 2015. That calculates out to about $3.20 per share, above the current consensus estimate of $3.16 a share.

Tyson stock traded up 2.4% at $40.49 in early afternoon trading, in a 52-week range of $26.97 to $44.24.

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