Pilgrim's Pride Corp. announced it is making a public offering of 7,500,000 shares of common stock at $24 per share, a move that raised some concern for Wall Street analysts about the company's debt load and its ability to cash in on rising poultry prices.

The company said it will use the proceeds of about $180 million in part to reduce outstanding debt.

"We are surprised that the company is choosing to issue equity at the bottom of the commodity cycle, particularly given that the company had negotiated more liberal terms in its credit agreements," wrote Stephens Inc. analyst Farha Aslam in a note to investors.

While seeing the move as neutral to earnings, JPMorgan analyst Pablo Zuanic wrote in a note to investors, "We remain concerned that PPC faces company-specific issues that may not allow it to benefit from better chicken economics in the next six months."

Farha said while the equity offering erases some of the upside in the stock, "We believe our $30 price target is still very achievable."

Pilgrim's Pride was trading down 5.7 percent at $24.38 in mid-morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange.

For more stories, go to www.meatingplace.com.