Tyson Foods lowered its profit outlook for the year as soaring cattle prices continue to weigh on the meatpacking giant's bottom line.

A shortage of cattle in the U.S. has been driving up costs for meatpackers like Tyson and JBS in recent years, leading to steep financial losses. Tyson said its cattle costs climbed by $575 million in the quarter compared with a year earlier. Higher livestock costs are raising retail beef prices to record levels, curbing demand at a time when consumers are already stressed.

Arkansas-based Tyson posted a $142 million loss in its beef division for its fiscal third quarter. The company's beef sales price rose by almost 12% year over year, while sales volumes fell by 16%. The company said it expects to report an adjusted operating loss of $500 million to $650 million, compared with its prior forecast of a loss between $300 million and $500 million.

In the three months ended June 27, the company reported a profit of $182 million, up from $61 million the same period a year earlier. On an adjusted basis, Tyson earned 99 cents per share, slightly ahead of the 98 cents expected by Wall Street analysts, according to FactSet.

Tyson--which processes roughly one of every five pounds of chicken, beef and pork sold in the U.S.--said its quarterly sales were flat from the same period a year earlier at about $13.87 billion, below what analysts expected.

Shares of Tyson were down about 3.8% in premarket trading.

Tyson, a bellwether for the U.S. meat industry, has leaned on its chicken business to keep profits stable over the past year. Strong demand for its chicken breasts and frozen nuggets, and cheap livestock, have helped boost its bottom-line profits. But chicken processors have seen their profits erode over the past few months because of an industrywide glut.

For its 2026 fiscal year, Tyson lowered its adjusted operating-income forecast to between $2.1 billion and $2.3 billion from its previous range of $2.2 billion to $2.4 billion.