Hormel Foods Corp. reported another record performance in its second quarter for fiscal 2016.

On Wednesday, the company reported second quarter record net earnings of $215.4 million, up 20 percent from net earnings of $180.2 million last year.

“Hormel Foods delivered strong results this quarter, our twelfth consecutive quarter of record earnings, with four of five segments achieving double-digit increases in operating profits,” Hormel CEO and chairman of the board Jeffrey Ettinger said in a press release.

Diluted earnings per share for the quarter were $0.40, up 21 percent from $0.33 last year. Sales for the quarter were $2.3 billion, up 1 percent from last year.

Hormel raised its fiscal 2016 earnings guidance range from $1.50 to $1.56 per share to $1.56 to $1.60 per share based on strong second quarter results. It expects continued growth in the back half of the year.

“We look for Refrigerated Foods and Grocery Products to continue driving earnings increases through growth in value-added products combined with favorable input costs,” Hormel President and Chief Operating Officer James Snee said in a press release. “Jennie-O Turkey Store is well-positioned to drive sales and earnings growth as turkey production has returned to normalized levels.”

Hormel’s quarter at a glance

•Grocery Products, 17 percent of net sales, saw profit increase 21 percent on favorable raw material costs and improved plant efficiencies. Sales increased 1 percent with growth from Skippy peanut butter and Hormel chili offsetting decreases in chunk meats business.

Hormel debuted Skippy P.B. Bites last year and Snee said it’s seen early success.

•Refrigerated Foods, 48 percent of net sales, saw segment profit increased13 percent driven by strong pork operating margins, the addition of the Applegate business, and growth in many of our value-added products. Including Applegate, sales were up 7 percent led by foodservice sales of Old Smokehouse bacon and Hormel Fire Braised meats and increased retail sales of Hormel Natural Choice meats and Hormel pepperoni.

Snee said Applegate has shown positive signs. When Hormel acquired Applegate, one top priority was to address supply constraints identified in the acquisition.

Snee said they’ve been able to maintain Applegate’s mission to “changing the meat we eat” while regaining distribution lost through supply pressures.

•Jennie-O Turkey Store, 18 percent of net sales, saw segment profit increase 20 percent on improved product mix and favorable input costs. Sales decreased 4 percent reflecting volume shortfalls from the impact of highly pathogenic avian influenza in fiscal 2015.

Snee said the company continues rebounding from the avian flu but remains focused on bio security.

“We remain optimistic that avian influenza’s behind us,” Snee said.

•Specialty Foods, 12 percent of net sales, saw a 74 percent increase in segment profit. Results were driven by lower input costs, a favorable comparison to the plant closure in the prior year, and operational synergies captured within the CytoSport and Century Foods supply chain. Dollar sales decreased 5 percent as increased sales of Muscle Milk protein products were not able to offset reduced contract packaging sales.

“Specialty Foods will continue to deliver increased sales of Muscke Milk protein products but may not show year-over-year increases in segment sales and earnings as a result of the divestiture of Diamond Crystal Brands,” Snee said in a press release.

•International & Other, 5 percent of Net Sales, saw profit decline 33 percent and sales decline 17 percent. Results were impacted by high pork input costs in China and soft demand for our U.S. export products.

“We expect International to return to growth in the back half of fiscal 2016 led by export sales of our Spam family of products and Skipp peanut butter,” Snee said in a press release.