Source:  LIsa M. Keefe, MEATINGPLACE.COM, 1/31/11

Farha Aslam, an equity analyst with Stephens Inc., on Friday lowered her expectations for Sanderson Farms Inc.’s earnings in its fiscal 2011, barely two weeks after she’d lopped 20 percent off her original projections.

Aslam now expects Sanderson Farms to earn 33 cents per share in fiscal year 2011, down from 80 cents per share she projected earlier. The latest drop is fueled by her gloomy outlook on the first half of the company’s fiscal year.

“We expect the Company to lose $1.40 per share in [the first half of fiscal 2011] vs. (a loss of) 53 cents per share previously. We expect an improvement in profitability in the F2H11 as we look for an extended period of losses to spur industry production cuts,” she wrote in a note to investors.

Aslam is assuming that corn prices will remain above $6 a bushel and for poultry prices to remain depressed as supply outpaces demand.

Meanwhile, however, she increased her estimates for fiscal 2012 earnings, to $4.80 a share from $4.50 a share, in anticipation of production cuts pushing prices higher.

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