Tyson Foods, Inc. (NYSE: TSN) reported, according to this source, a decent quarter in terms of bottom-line profit, but it wasn't enough to satisfy Wall Street. Sales rose almost 10% to $7.2 billion. And net income on an adjusted basis came in at $0.15 per share. That represented pretty good growth over last year's profit figure. But you know, it didn't really matter for two reasons. One, the call by the analyst community was for four more pennies. Two, guidance was not tasty at all. Management sees further pressures coming, and the aforementioned source mentions that the fulfillment of debt obligations is an issue.

A tough environment for chicken has been plaguing Tyson. Not only that, but a look at the company's press release shows that operational cash flow took a huge dive over the last twelve months, dropping roughly 58% to $288 million. There was no free cash for the year to support the dividend obligations. That isn't too encouraging.

The bottom line on Tyson, which competes with the also-struggling Pilgrim's Pride (NYSE: PPC), is that it isn't a buy, at least not from where I sit. I know there will be investors out there who will see some value in the situation, but I cannot, at least not at this time. No, I'm not saying that I think Tyson will disappear. However, there are better ideas out there if you're looking to play the supermarket game over a long-term basis. There's Procter & Gamble (NYSE: PG), Kraft (NYSE: KFT), and Campbell Soup (NYSE: CPB), to name some examples. As I write this, Tyson's stock is down over 11%. Might we see a bounce in the next few days? Sure. But I'm not brave enough to step in with this one.

Disclosure: I don't own any company mentioned; positions can change at any time.

Too chicken to buy Tyson originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Mon, 10 Nov 2008 15:20:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.