2023 was a year many pork companies would rather forget, with some calling it possibly the worst year on record as costs soared for farmers with accelerating inflation at that time. But as that year fades into memory, profits are returning for many, including leading U.S. producer Smithfield Foods Inc.
（作者阳歌，本文仅代表作者个人观点）
The company’s owner, China’s WH Group (0288.HK), is seizing on the turnaround by serving up a Smithfield IPO, whose details were disclosed in a filing with the U.S. securities regulator this week. WH Group first indicated it planned to separately list Smithfield last July, and issued its own brief announcement this week on the application.
2023年是很多猪肉公司宁愿忘记的一年，有些公司或称之为有史以来最糟糕的年份，因当时通货膨胀加剧，养殖户的成本飙升。但随着那一年成为过去，很多公司正恢复盈利，其中包括美国领先的猪肉生产商史密斯菲尔德食品公司。
Investors have been quite excited about this spinoff, bidding up WH Group’s shares by as much as 34% over the last six months. And despite a recent pullback, the stock is still up 18% since last July, which isn’t bad for this kind of very old-economy stock. Still, the company currently trades at a relatively low price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of just 8, well below the roughly 25 for both Chinese rival Muyuan Foods (002714.SZ) and U.S.-based Tyson Foods (TSN.US).
该公司的母企万洲国际(0288.HK)正抓住这一逆转，分拆史密斯菲尔德上市，本周提交美国证券监管机构的一份文件披露相关细节。万洲国际于去年7月首次表示计划让史密斯菲尔德上市，并于本周就史密斯菲尔德的上市申请发布了简短公告。