=Hormel Foods (HRL) reported earnings on Tue 21 November 2017 (b/o)

AUSTIN, Minn. (AP) _ Hormel Foods Corp. (HRL) on Tuesday reported fiscal fourth-quarter profit of $218.2 million.

On a per-share basis, the Austin, Minnesota-based company said it had net income of 41 cents.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of six analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 40 cents per share.

The maker of Spam canned ham, Dinty Moore stew and other foods posted revenue of $2.49 billion in the period, also topping Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $2.39 billion.

For the year, the company reported profit of $846.7 million, or $1.57 per share. Revenue was reported as $9.17 billion.

Hormel expects full-year earnings to be $1.60 to $1.70 per share, with revenue in the range of $9.4 billion to $9.8 billion.

Hormel shares have declined 4 percent since the beginning of the year, while the Standard & Poor's 500 index has increased 15 percent. The stock has fallen 6 percent in the last 12 months.