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|  | FEBRUARY 14, 2005
 WORD ON THE STREET Merrill Raises Smithfield Foods Estimates Analyst Leonard Teitelbaum says the the pork and meat processor is benefiting from lower feed costs and high pork and beef prices Merrill Lynch raises Smithfield Foods (SFD ) estimates and target and reiterates buy rating. Analyst Leonard Teitelbaum says his new forecast is far ahead of his previous 50 cents estimate. It reflects very strong conditions in the Hog Processing Group. He believes Smithfield is benefiting from current market conditions of lower feed costs and high pork prices, which have been driven by high beef prices. He thinks the export business continues to be robust. Teitelbaum raises his 50 cents third-quarter earnings per share estimate to 87 cents and his $2.05 fiscal 2005 (ending April) to $2.53 on the belief hog prices will remain high over the coming six months. He also raises his $2.34 fiscal 2006 earnings per share estimate to $2.74 and his $30 target to $39, which is based on Smithfield's earnings per share outperformance.  All of the views expressed in this research report accurately reflect the research analyst's personal views regarding any and all of the subject securities or issuers. No part of analyst compensation was, is or will be, directly or indirectly related to the specific recommendations or views expressed in this research report. Standard & Poor's Regulatory Disclosure Any advice, analysis, or recommendations contained in articles labeled "Insight from Standard & Poor's" reflect the views of Standard & Poor's, which operates separately from and independently of BusinessWeek Online. It is possible that BWOL may from time to time publish information that is not consistent with advice, analysis, or recommendations that are published by Standard & Poor's. Standard & Poor's and BusinessWeek Online are each units of The McGraw-Hill Companies, Inc. Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | |
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