Feb 1, 2006 12:00 PM

Pilgrim's Pride Corp, the Pittsburg TX-based poultry producer, has been named one of the best-managed companies in America by Forbes magazine.

As noted in the magazine, Pilgrim's Pride posted the largest earnings increase of any company in Forbes' Food, Drink, and Tobacco sector in 2005, delivering an earnings gain of 107% over the previous year. The company also placed second on the publication's list of top 10 Food, Drink, and Tobacco companies based on its five-year annual total return of 33.1%.

According to Forbes, “Pilgrim's owes its 16% market share … to its 2003 $547 million cash and stock acquisition of ConAgra's chicken business, which doubled the company's sales in 2004. More impressively, by cutting overlapping costs and fully integrating ConAgra's operations into Pilgrim's computer network within ten months, Pilgrim's was able to cut operating expenses by $125 million a year.”

Pilgrim's Pride has been named one of Forbes' best-managed companies in five of the seven years the list has been published.