Hormel Foods (NYSE: HRL), a foodstuffs processor whose colleagues include ConAgra Foods (NYSE: CAG) and Kraft (NYSE: KFT), issued its Q2 numbers on Thursday. Revenues jumped 6% to $1.6 billion, although the growth rate was only 4% if you look at just the amount credited to organic appreciation. Net earnings per diluted share rose 14% to $0.56 per share. Volume jumped 5% altogether, and 3% based on, once again, organic growth.

This wasn't a bad earnings report for a major supermarket brand, although it certainly wasn't overly stimulating, either. So, you wanna take a guess as to by how much Hormel beat earnings expectations? If you said "by the proverbial penny," then you just might be a Wall Street junkie! Seems like so many companies got the penny-thing down pat. Anyway, Briefing.com not only said that earnings were better by a penny, but that revenues came in pretty much as expected.

Basically, Hormel is trying to navigate this inflationary environment as best it can. As we all know, it's pretty competitive out there in the grocery aisles even during prosperous periods. But take a look at the cash-flow statement and you'll see that the company did pretty well in terms of net cash from operations. That metric soared almost 30% over the six-month period. Only problem is, not too much was left over after capital expenditures and dividend payments were taken into account. Still, Hormel seems reasonably fine for now on the cash-flow front.

I'm not necessarily interested in Hormel's stock at this time. If I wanted to get in, I certainly would look to pick up shares at a higher yield; there are better opportunities out there for dividend yield, in my opinion. As Joseph Lazzaro observed a couple months back, Hormel is definitely an interesting defensive name during challenging economic times, and I did enjoy the double-digit bottom-line growth. I just think investors would be better off if this one came down a bit in terms of share price.

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