Hormel Foods Corp. is touting its innovation and international sales growth as strategies to help the company expand in the future.

Hormel President and CEO Jeff Ettinger discussed Hormel’s strategies during the annual Barclays Back-to-School Consumer Conference in Boston, Massachusetts this week. Particular areas of interest include growing trends in portable and nutritious foods, multicultural flavors and expansion into global markets.

“Our continued focus on innovation has brought creative and convenient value-added food products to consumers,” Ettinger said. “It has also enabled us to keep our broad portfolio of iconic brands fresh and relevant with new flavors, packaging and convenience.”

In August, Hormel Foods acquired CytoSport Holdings, Inc., the maker of Muscle Milk products. CytoSport’s brands align with the company’s focus on protein, while further diversifying the Hormel portfolio. The acquisition will serve as a growth catalyst for the company’s specialty foods segment, and also offers a branded avenue for our company in the fast growing sports nutrition space. Ettinger said Muscle Milk products will be a key contributor to the company’s growing portfolio of products focused on portable foods and better-for-you trends.

In addition to innovation, the company will be focusing on driving sales outside of the United States, according to Ettinger.

“We have done a nice job of expanding sales of our SPAM family of products outside the United States, and SKIPPY peanut butter has been a complementary growth vehicle for our international business,” he said.

Ettinger concluded by highlighting the company’s experienced management team and strong history of solid financial performance, noting the company has increased dividends to shareholders for 48 consecutive years.