Since the start of the year, processed meat supplier Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL) has risen nearly 4 percent. The company was able to increase revenue, amid negative factors, in the last reporting period. Hormel Foods is not a fast-growing firm, but with steady dividend payments and prospects, it attracts investors.

Around a third of the market for Hormel Foods is in restaurant supplies. Due to COVID-19, which influenced Hormel Foods’ revenues, the company encountered serious issues. The losses were however, covered by increased revenue from retail chains. Probably, during the pandemic, people didn’t eat less, they only kept buying food elsewhere. Hormel Foods was also able to not only sustain, but also boost revenue.

The company’s revenues rose 3 percent year-on-year in foreign markets in the third quarter. Overall, the most profitable segment of the company was food distribution to supermarkets, with income up 36 percent year-on-year because of good sales of canned meat, peanut meat and beef stew. The strong base that enabled Hormel Foods to produce a steady cash flow in times of crisis is the set of products the company have. The situation for Hormel Foods will most likely not improve, at least in the medium term, as COVID-19-related restrictions are coming back in the US and Europe.

Hormel Foods handles assets competently as it makes promising acquisitions and gets rid of assets whose potential cannot be completely realized. So at one time the company marketed CytoSport, a protein maker, at the same time the company is investing in the production of a substitute for vegetable meat, a product which is rapidly gaining worldwide popularity.

Hormel Foods is currently paying a dividend with an annual return of around 1.98 percent. This isn’t much, but the unique attribute of the company is it’s more than 50-year tradition of dividend payments.

Hormel Foods Corporation (NYSE: HRL) stock was worth $46.87 at close of the trading on Wednesday.