Tyson Foods Inc (TSN) stock analysis
Tyson Foods Inc (TSN) clears 3 of this site's 8 mechanical value filters, 3 of 8 Buffett-style checks and 3 of 5 Lynch-style checks. At $57.07 it trades 19.8% below this site's neutral DCF value (a margin of safety of +19.8%). Its earnings quality rates Strong and it returns +3.1% to shareholders net of dilution. Figures are as of October 23, 2026, from SEC filings and market data refreshed weekly; this is educational analysis, not investment advice.
Data as of October 23, 2026. Refreshed weekly from SEC filings and market data.
What does Tyson Foods do?
Tyson Foods processes and sells chicken, beef, pork and prepared foods to grocery stores, restaurants and food-service businesses.
Brands and businesses it owns
- Tyson
- Jimmy Dean
- Hillshire Farm
- Ball Park
- State Fair
- Wright Brand
- Aidells
What stands out about Tyson Foods?
- The share price implies 2.6% yearly growth. At $57.07, TSN's free cash flow of $4.17 per share would have to grow 2.6% a year, fading to 2.5% by year 10, for this site's DCF (10% discount rate) to match the price. This site's baseline starts at 8%, so the price asks for less growth than the baseline. Change the assumptions.
- Misses 3 of the 8 value filters. It fails Market Cap > $25B ($19.4B), Trailing P/E < 25 (33.86) and PEG Ratio < 1.5 (160.05); the other 3 pass and 2 were not evaluated. See every filter.
- The margin of safety is falling. It went from +26% on Oct 7 to +20% on Oct 23 across 5 weekly readings. See the trend.
- Insiders have been buying. 1 open-market purchase was reported in SEC Form 4 filings in the last 90 days, about $5.2 million in all. See the Insider Buying Tracker.
- Dividend raises 1 of 6 flags. Its trailing yield is 3.61%. See the Sustainable Dividend Screener.
How has Tyson Foods' share price moved?
The interactive price chart needs JavaScript.
Is Tyson Foods undervalued? The value diligence check
Every value-investing signal this site computes for this stock, gathered in one place: the same real numbers from the tools below, not a new score.
- Margin of safety (DCF) +19.8% Corroborated: an insider bought once in the trailing 90 days (~$5.2M) - real, disclosed Form 4 buying near this price, not proof by itself.
- P/E vs. its own history 33.9x · near the expensive end Real range: 7.7x–40.8x over 4 years (net income per diluted share from each fiscal year's 10-K, paired with the real closing price at that fiscal year-end).
- Wall St. analyst rating Hold · 3.42/5 19 analysts this month: 1 strong buy, 8 buy, 9 hold, 0 sell, 1 strong sell (Finnhub). Up from 3.35 last month.
- Altman Z″-Score (bankruptcy risk) 3.51 · Safe zone
- Earnings quality (is the profit real?) Strong · 1 watch Beneish M-score −2.62 · accruals −4.6% of assets · >500% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 0.2% of revenue · share count +1.5% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Sep 2025) - see the Earnings Quality Screener for how each check is scored.
- Shareholder yield (cash back to owners) +3.1% net Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 3.6% + buybacks 0.0% − stock comp 0.5%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count fell 6%. See Shareholder Yield Leaders.
- Capital needed to grow (See's test) Profit did not grow in 10 years Operating profit $2.9B → $704M, capital needed $23B → $29B, 2016–2025 (3-year averages); return on capital now 2% before tax. Buffett's See's Candies needed $0.42 per $1 of new profit, FlightSafety $3.20, a typical grower about $5. See Capital-Light Compounders.
- PEG (growth at a reasonable price) 160 · Well above fair P/E 33.9× ÷ 0.2% a year of growth behind it. 446th lowest of 447 stocks with a usable PEG. Lynch's fair value is a PEG of 1; a very high PEG usually means almost no growth, a very low one a profit spike. See PEG Ratio Ranking.
- Compounder lenses (4) 2 of 4 · misses capital-light, price Capital-light growth: not cleared (profit grew 0.2×, under 2×); Profit is real: cleared; Cash to owners: cleared; Fair price (PEG): not cleared (PEG 160, over 1.5). See Compounders at a Fair Price, which also lets you move the PEG bar.
- Value trap check Flagged (3/6 filters failed)
- Munger's Inversion Check 1 flag
- Standing vs. sector peers 2 of 7 measures above the median Compared with the 10 other food products stocks this site tracks: 1 in the top third, 3 in the bottom third.
- Dividend payout sustainability 1/6 flags
How does Tyson Foods compare with its peers?
2 of 7 measures sit above the median of the 10 other food products stocks tracked here, 1 in the top third and 3 in the bottom third.
- P/E ratiolower is cheaper · peer median 26.1× 33.9× ✕7th of 8
- Free-cash-flow yieldhigher is cheaper · peer median 7.3% 7.3% –7th of 11
- Return on equityhigher is better · peer median 4% 3% ✕8th of 11
- Net marginhigher is better · peer median 2.2% 1.0% ✕8th of 11
- Revenue growthhigher is better, year on year · peer median 0.7% 3.3% –5th of 11
- Debt / equitylower is safer · peer median 0.81 0.44 ✓3rd of 11
- Dividend yieldamong dividend payers · peer median 4.02% 3.61% –7th of 11
Peers are the stocks this site tracks in the same sector group, not every listed competitor. The bar runs from the weakest peer (left) to the strongest (right); the tick is the middle. Measures that don't apply to a sector (cash-flow yield for banks, debt for financials) are left out.
What would Buffett & Lynch say?
Buffett's checklist is built around durable, profitable businesses bought at sensible prices, and TSN doesn't clear enough of it yet. In its favor: TSN carries a conservative amount of debt relative to equity, is trading below what a conservative discounted-cash-flow estimate says it's worth - his own "price is what you pay, value is what you get" test, not a fixed multiple ceiling, and trades at a reasonable multiple of owner earnings, his own term for the real cash a business could pay out. Where it comes up short: TSN isn't clearing the return-on-equity bar he'd want to see right now, and its five-year average return on equity falls short too, so this isn't just a one-off dip, runs thinner pretax margins than he'd like to see, hasn't grown earnings per share fast enough over five years to impress him, and doesn't cover its interest expense as comfortably as he'd want.
- ROE (TTM) > 11% ✕
- ROE (5yr avg) > 11% ✕
- Debt/Equity < 0.5 ✓
- Pretax margin > 15% ✕
- EPS growth (5yr) > 7% ✕
- Interest coverage > 5x ✕
- Trading below intrinsic value (DCF) ✓
- Price vs. owner earnings < 25x ✓
Lynch looked for growth stories that weren't overpriced for that growth, and TSN falls short of his bar. In its favor: TSN pays a real dividend, the actual reason he bought slow growers at all, isn't over-leveraged for a company of its type, and converts earnings into real cash at a reasonable price. Where it comes up short: TSN isn't even growing at the modest pace he'd expect from a slow grower, and is priced too rich for how little growth is actually left in the business.
- Dividend yield > 2.5% ✓
- EPS growth 0%-10% ✕
- Debt/Equity < 0.6 ✓
- P/E < 20 ✕
- Price/FCF < 25 ✓
- Bonus: insiders buying (90d) 1 buy, ~$5.2M
Quantitative approximations of each investor's documented approach, not endorsed by either investor or their estates - commentary, not this site's actual ranking criteria. Buffett never published a numeric checklist: only 2 of his 8 checks here trace to his own documented concepts ("owner earnings," from his 1986 shareholder letter, and "price is what you pay, value is what you get," his case against fixed P/E/P/B ceilings) - the other 6 (ROE, debt, margins, growth, interest coverage) use commonly-cited thresholds that are not numbers he himself published. The 8 hard filters below (plus the Munger check and Graham margin of safety) are this site's real, mechanical screen and are computed completely independently of the checklists above.
Berkshire Hathaway's own filing
Which of the 8 value filters does Tyson Foods pass?
- Market Cap > $25B $19.4B
- Trailing P/E < 25 33.86
- PEG Ratio < 1.5 160.05
- Price/Book < 8 1.08
- Price/Sales < 7 0.35
- EPS Growth YoY > -5% +200.0%
- vs 50-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
- vs 200-day MA (±12%) Not evaluated †
What is Tyson Foods' margin of safety?
+26% on 2026-10-07 → +20% on 2026-10-23 (5 weekly readings).
Where is Tyson Foods in its 52-week range?
What is the short interest in Tyson Foods?
8,699,976 shares short as of 2026-09-30 (FINRA settlement date). Reported twice a month, so this only changes roughly every two weeks, not daily.
What could go wrong with Tyson Foods? Munger's inversion check
"Invert, always invert." Instead of reasons to buy, these are reasons to hesitate, not a verdict, and not everything worth knowing about a business.
- Margin of safety, even in the bull case +53%
- Short interest under 5% of float 3.2%
- Passes most of the 6 fundamental filters 3/6 passed
- Price run-up backed by value, not just momentum +13% off 52wk low
- Debt/equity stable since 2016 0.65 → 0.49
Doesn't cover circle of competence, management quality, or accounting concerns: those need judgment, not data.
How much have Tyson Foods shareholders gained per year?
Earnings growth per share plus dividend.
An earnings-based proxy, not a stock-price total return - it doesn't capture multiple expansion/contraction or reinvested dividends. EPS from TSN's own 10-K filings; dividend yield is the current trailing yield on today's price, from the same weekly fetch as the rest of this site.
What do Tyson Foods' 10-year financials show?
From TSN's own 10-K filings (SEC EDGAR): up to the last 10 fiscal years. Press any year's bars for the exact figures.
Frequently asked questions about Tyson Foods
What kind of company is Tyson Foods?
Tyson Foods processes and sells chicken, beef, pork and prepared foods to grocery stores, restaurants and food-service businesses. Brands and businesses it owns include Tyson, Jimmy Dean, Hillshire Farm, Ball Park, State Fair and Wright Brand. This site groups it with Food Products stocks.
Is Tyson Foods trading above or below its DCF value?
At $57.07, TSN trades 19.8% below this site's neutral DCF value of $71.15 per share, a margin of safety of +19.8%. That DCF projects free cash flow for 10 years, with growth starting at 8% and fading to 2.5%, discounted at 10%; it is one set of assumptions, not a forecast. Test your own in the Intrinsic Value Calculator.
How many of this site's 8 value filters does Tyson Foods pass?
TSN passes 3 of 8. It passes Price/Book < 8 (1.08), Price/Sales < 7 (0.35) and EPS Growth YoY > -5% (+200.0%). It misses Market Cap > $25B ($19.4B), Trailing P/E < 25 (33.86) and PEG Ratio < 1.5 (160.05). vs 50-day MA (±12%) and vs 200-day MA (±12%) were not evaluated, because the moving-average checks only run on stocks that clear the fundamentals first. The 8-filter list shows every stock that passes all of them.
Are Tyson Foods's reported earnings reliable?
This site's earnings-quality check rates TSN Strong · 1 watch. Beneish M-score −2.62 · accruals −4.6% of assets · >500% of profit arrived as cash · stock comp 0.2% of revenue · share count +1.5% a year. From the latest 10-K (year to Sep 2025). Concerns: share dilution (on watch). The five checks are the Beneish M-score (manipulation risk), accruals, cash conversion, stock-based compensation and share dilution; the Earnings Quality Screener shows how each is graded.
How much cash does Tyson Foods return to shareholders?
TSN's net shareholder yield is +3.1%: the cash it returns through dividends and buybacks, minus stock-based compensation, as a share of its market value. Latest fiscal year (2025): dividends 3.6% + buybacks 0.0% − stock comp 0.5%, as a share of today's market cap. Over 14 years its split-adjusted share count fell 6%. Its trailing dividend yield is 3.61%, paid out of 48% of its free cash flow; the dividend-sustainability check raises 1 of 6 flags (a risky earnings payout). See Shareholder Yield Leaders and the Sustainable Dividend Screener.
Are Tyson Foods's insiders buying its shares?
Yes: 1 open-market insider purchase of Tyson Foods shares, worth about $5.2 million in total, was reported in SEC Form 4 filings in the 90 days up to this page's last update. Only open-market purchases count here, not option exercises or stock awards. See the Insider Buying Tracker.
Where do these numbers come from?
- Financial statements: Tyson Foods's 10-K annual report for the year ended Sep 27, 2025, filed Nov 10, 2025 (filing index). Every earlier year in the 10-year financials comes from the company's older 10-K filings, all listed on SEC EDGAR.
- Prices and market data: quotes, P/E and analyst ratings from Finnhub; daily price history and the 52-week range from Twelve Data, both refreshed weekly. Short interest comes from FINRA, reported twice a month.
- How to check a figure: click any number in the card above to see its exact source, and read the Editorial Standards for every rule behind the checks.
About this Tyson Foods Inc analysis
This page shows every value-investing check the site runs on Tyson Foods Inc (TSN) in one place: the 8 mechanical filters, the Buffett and Lynch checklists, a margin of safety from a disclosed DCF, earnings quality, shareholder yield and how it ranks against its sector peers. The numbers come from SEC filings and public market data, refreshed weekly, and the same rules apply to every stock on the stock list. See Editorial Standards for the sources and the rules, or run your own filters in the stock screener.