Tyson Foods, Inc.

Good morning and welcome to the Tyson suits first quarter 2026 earnings conference call all participants will be in listen only mode. Should you need assistance, please signal a conference specialist by pressing the star key followed by zero. After today's presentation, there will be an opportunity to ask questions to ask a question, you may press star than one on your touch tone phone to a try your question, please press star and then to. Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to John Cottle, VP Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Good morning, and welcome to Tyson Foods first quarter fiscal 2026 earnings conference call. On today's call, Tyson's President and Chief Executive Officer Donnie King, Chief Financial Officer Kirk Calloway, and Chief Operating Officer Devin Cole will provide prepared remarks. Following the prepared remarks, we will have a Q&A session with the participants who will be joined by our Chief Growth Officer, Christina Lambert. We have also provided a supplemental presentation which may be referenced on today's call and is available on the Tysons Investor Relations website and via the link in our webcast. During today's call, we will make forward-looking statements regarding our expectations for the future. These forward-looking statements made during this call are provided pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements include all comments reflecting our expectations, assumptions, or beliefs about future events or performance that do not relate solely to historical periods. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks, uncertainties, and assumptions, which may cause actual results to differ materially from our current projections. Please refer to our forward-looking statement disclaimers on slide two as well as our SEC filings for additional information concerning risk factors that could cause our actual results to differ materially from our projections. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. Today's segment results are presented on a segment operating income level and will be discussed on an adjusted basis. The primary difference between segment operating income and the method used in previous quarters is that we will no longer allocate corporate expenses and amortization down to the segment level. Donnie and Kurt will share more thoughts on the change in their prepared remarks. We have recast previously reported quarterly results for the previous three fiscal years to reflect the new format. The segment change has no impact on consolidated historical U.S. GAAP financial results. The recast financial information is accessible through the events and presentation section of the company's investor relations website at ir.tyson.com. Please note that the references to earnings per share, segment operating income, operating income, and operating margin in our remarks are on an adjusted basis for our fiscal periods unless otherwise noted. For reconciliations of these non-GAAP measures to their corresponding GAAP measures, please refer to our earnings press release. Now, I will turn the call over to Donnie.

Thank you, John, and thanks to everyone joining us today. Before walking you through our first quarter results, I want to remind everyone of what we're building at Tyson, a diversified, protein-centric company positioned to capture growing demand for high-quality protein. We're driving operational excellence, investing in our branded portfolio and innovation to capture market share, deploying our capital strategically to strengthen our competitive position our q1 results with sales increasing to more than 14 billion dollars demonstrate our initiatives and our strategy are clearly working we're driving operational excellence daily and the team is energized for what's ahead as john mentioned we've made an important change to our segment reporting measure from adjusted operating income to segment operating income as this will allow you the investor to see the results in the same manner that I utilize to judge the effectiveness of our business decisions and accountability for the choices we make. This empowers our business leaders to pursue volume growth and enhance their decision-making based on a more direct view of the impacts of those decisions without corporate expenses and amortization, which are more fixed in nature. Of course, we will continue to focus on reducing the spend and maximizing efficiencies in our corporate functions. On the businesses, Prepared Foods took another step forward this quarter with sales increasing in volume, channel mix, and pass-through pricing. Segment operating income increased to $338 million. Importantly, our products are winning in the marketplace during a clearly dynamic consumer backdrop. Our Prepared Foods business is capturing more market share by volume and dollars. driven by increased brand investments and targeted map spending that is showing favorable returns. Our production facilities continue to make performance improvements through operational efficiencies. The chicken segment delivered another strong quarter with $459 million in segment operating income, a margin of 10.9% in a less favorable operating environment. These positive sales and earnings gains were fueled by more efficient marketing and promotional expenses. Results are becoming increasingly more sustainable and predictable with plenty of untapped potential in areas we can control within the business. Chicken is an affordable, high quality protein and our value added offerings position us uniquely to serve both retail and food service customers. In the first quarter, we announced the strategic decision in our beef business to close our Lexington, Nebraska facility and scale back operations at our Amarillo, Texas plant to a single shift. These changes were implemented in January, and as a result, our first quarter results do not reflect the impact of these operational adjustments. We recognize the impact on people's lives, and we did not make them lightly. At the same time, we made this a necessary choice to right-size our beef operations with a smaller and more efficient footprint, higher capacity utilization, and stronger alignment with the long-term outlook for the US cattle herd. These decisions position us to improve our overall beef capacity utilization and to compete more effectively in the beef business, both now and in the future. Continuing to absorb losses like we have been seeing for the past two years is simply unacceptable. Looking forward, we expect cattle supplies remain tight throughout 2026 and 2027. During this period, chicken is likely to continue to benefit most from the changing consumer preferences, both at retail and in food service. And we're obviously well positioned to win. Once again, our pork segment performed well in a stable operating environment. We continue to increase yield and revenue by developing more value added products. All parts of the pork value chain from hog supply, pork production, through retail and food service customers are in relative balance, allowing for more predictable and stable operating margins. Finally, our international segment continued its momentum and had another good quarter. Now, let me share with you why we are very well positioned relative to what's occurring in the food industry. A recent development beneficial for Tyson Foods was the release of the new U.S. Dietary Guidelines. As you are aware, healthcare costs are rising. and is important to have viable solutions to combat the challenge of obesity and inadequate nutrition. These updated guidelines and recommendations represent a historic validation of our core mission, providing high-quality essential protein to millions. By advocating for increased animal protein consumption as a leading pillar of a healthy lifestyle, the administration has underscored what we have always known. Animal protein is a foundational building block of a nutritious diet. As the producer of one out of every five pounds of chicken, beef, and pork in the United States, Tyson is uniquely positioned as the leader in this real protein space. And as the demand for protein continues to increase, Tyson will be there to meet this demand. These policy recommendations underscore how public health priorities and consumer demand for high-quality protein are moving in the same direction. And even in a dynamic economic environment, protein remains essential in the grocery cart, with consumers continuing to favor chicken, beef, and pork. The updated guidelines also recommend limiting artificial flavors, petroleum-based dyes, and artificial preservatives. At Tyson, we have been ahead of this curve and have already proactively removed petroleum-based synthetic dyes and other ingredients including high fructose corn syrup across our U.S. branded portfolio. By simplifying our labels and using the same ingredients you can find in your pantry, we're providing consumers what they are looking for, protein. It's real food that tastes good and is good for you. And we're confident that this commitment to quality will continue to drive superior value for our customers and our shareholders. Let me now tell you about how we are winning in the market. According to Nielsen data, total category food and beverage retail volume declined 1.8%, with dollars up 0.9% over 13 weeks ending in December. In contrast, our retail branded products, which include our national and regional brands, grew by 2.5% in volume and 3.6% in dollars, significantly outperforming the broader sector. This retail growth was broad-based, highlighted by strong volume performances across several national and regional brands and categories. A few examples include Tyson National and Regional Branded Fresh Chicken, up 10.7%. Hillshire Farm Lunch Meats increased by 10.4%. Hillshire Snacking grew by 12.5%, and Adel's Sausage went up 7.2%. In addition to the volume growth, All four grew dollars and share. We're also performing well in food service with share gains and volume growth of 27 basis points. Our ongoing investments in innovation, wider distribution, and effective targeted marketing are driving growth and keeping us competitive, providing substantial opportunities for further progress. As more shoppers turn to the perimeter of the store, we're meeting their demand for fresh, high quality options. This is why it matters. Demand for Tyson Foods products continues to grow, and we are well positioned to capture this momentum. While some companies face challenges in generating demand, our share gains demonstrate both our strength and our expectation for further growth, an essential driver of our ongoing and future success. Our focus on protein-centric offerings combined with a disciplined capital allocation enables us to accelerate expansion, optimize operations, and reinforce our supply chain and marketing capabilities. As a 90 year old American company, we provide durability, trust, and strategic continuity across cycles. These strengths allow us to deliver lasting value to our customers, consumers, team members, and shareholders. Looking ahead, The opportunities before us are more promising than ever, and I'm very confident in our portfolio and in our strategy. With that, I'll turn it over to Devin to take you through the segments in more detail.