Stewart F. Glendinning - Tyson Foods, Inc.
Management
Dennis, thank you for the kind words, and best of luck to you. I'm happy to be here and excited about the fundamentals we have to work with. Tyson is in an enviable position as the largest food company in the U.S. It has an increasingly branded product portfolio and a strong team, whose record speaks for itself. And while we expect over $300 million of incremental cash flows as a result of tax reform, our capital allocation priorities have not changed. We will continue to be disciplined in our long-term focus on driving shareholder value, as we plan to continue to use our cash to reduce debt and grow our businesses organically through sustainable operational efficiency and capital expansion projects, along with investing in innovation and brand building. Also, we will still have the flexibility to acquire businesses that support our strategic objectives, along with returning cash to shareholders through share repurchases and dividends, while maintaining plenty of liquidity and investment-grade credit ratings. Now, here are some additional thoughts on fiscal 2018. We expect top line sales growth of around 6% to 7% to approximately $41 billion. The expected increase is attributed to base volume growth and incremental AdvancePierre sales of approximately $1.1 billion. Net interest expense should approximate $335 million. As Dennis mentioned, we currently estimate our adjusted effective tax rate to be around 24%, which reflects the impact of tax reform. CapEx is expected to approximate $1.4 billion to $1.5 billion, which is up about $100 million from our previous guidance due to incremental tax reform investments, as we accelerate spending on additional capital projects to further unlock operational improvements with a focus on sustainability and innovation. Based on our average share price in Q1, we expect our average diluted shares to be around 371 million before share repurchases. Overall, Q1 was a great quarter, with more than $100 million improvement in our value-added segments, Chicken and Prepared Foods. The remainder of fiscal 2018 is consistent with how we viewed it coming into this year. And with the incremental impact related to tax reform of $0.85, we are now raising our annual adjusted EPS guidance to a range of $6.55 to $6.70. To be clear, our previous guidance has not changed other than accounting for the positive impact of tax reform. This new range is approximately 23% to 26% of the fiscal 2017 adjusted EPS and represents a 5-year compounded annual growth rate of approximately 24%. In closing, our Q2 is historically choppy. And with added margin pressure and increased freight and labor, as Tom described, this Q2 will be no different. However, despite these challenges, we do expect Q2 earnings growth compared to prior year on both a pre-and post-tax reform basis as we remain focused on executing our strategy to drive long-term shareholder value. This concludes our prepared remarks. Operator, we're ready to begin the Q&A.