hormel foods stock was lower early wednesday after the company reported fourthquarter earnings that were a bit better than analysts expected but forecast weaker 2023 sales than anticipated the company posted fourthquarter diluted earnings of 51 cents a share while wall street analysts had penciled in 50 cents a share for fiscal 2022 the company saw record net sales of 125 billion slightly missing analyst expectations net sales were boosted by increased demand and higher prices revenue from the planters snack nuts business acquired in june 2021 helped boost sales relative to fiscal 2021 the company said