Smithfield Foods Inc., a U. S. hog and pork producer, released its results for the third quarter today. The company reported a net profit for the third quarter ended January 31, 2010. The profitable quarter came to the company after posting four consecutive quarterly losses.

Smithfield Foods reported a profit in the second quarter of FY 2009 ended December 2008.

For the third quarter, Smithfield Foods Inc. reported net income of $37.3 million or 22 cents per share while in the same quarter last fiscal the company posted a net loss of $105.7 million or 74 cents per share. The net income in the third quarter beat the market expectations as the analysts estimated a net income of 19 cents per share for the period.

Total sales in the quarter were reported of $2.9 billion, decreasing by 14% while total sales were reported $3.3 billion for the same time period last year. The decreased sales in the third quarter were also attributable to the one less week in the quarter. The third quarter of the last fiscal had 14 weeks while the third quarter of FY 2010 had only 13 weeks.

Smithfield Foods Inc. said that the company is very optimistic for the coming quarters now. The company expects a profit of $55 million for the current fiscal and $110 million for FY2011. Also, the removed ban on pork processors by the Russia will help the company to boost its earnings.