{
  "id": 10992918,
  "title": "S&P and Moody’s downgrade Hormel Foods following $1.05B Brakebush deal",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/s-p-and-moodys-downgrade-hormel-foods-following-1-05b-brakebush-deal",
  "topic": "finance",
  "section": "Finance & Markets",
  "published": "2026-09-30T17:05:40.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Investing.com",
    "slug": "investing-com",
    "url": "https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/sp-and-moodys-downgrade-hormel-foods-following-105b-brakebush-deal-4925646"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Ratings have downgraded Hormel Foods Corporation's credit ratings following the company's $1.055 billion acquisition of value-added chicken processor Brakebush Brothers Inc. The debt-financed deal indicates management's temporary departure from conservative balance sheet targets, amidst inflationary pressures, reduced retail volumes, and elevated leverage from prior transactions. S&P lowered Hormel's ratings to 'BBB+' from 'A-', citing a delayed deleveraging trajectory, while Moody's lowered its rating to A3 from A2, citing execution risks and a pro forma debt-to-EBITDA leverage metric of 2.8x. The agencies recognized the industrial logic behind the deal, which adds substantial EBITDA and top-line scale to Hormel, potentially helping it return consolidated EBITDA above $1.4 billion by 2028. Both agencies also assigned a stable outlook to Hormel's new ratings, warning that persistent margin compression, integration hurdles, or failure to reduce leverage could lead to further credit downgrades.",
  "summary": null,
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Seeking Alpha News",
        "title": "Hormel expects the Brakebush acquisition to boost profits over time",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/30/hormel-expects-the-brakebush-acquisition-to-boost-profits-over-time",
        "published": "2026-09-30T16:47:29.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}