Hormel Foods Corp raised its fiscal 2009 earnings forecast on Monday, citing a stronger-than-expected third quarter.

The maker of Spam lunch meat said the third quarter benefited from a strong performance in refrigerated foods, improvement at Jennie-O turkey and solid results in grocery products. Hormel also benefited from better investment performance in its rabbi trust investment trust, Chairman and Chief Executive Jeffrey Ettinger said in a statement.

Hormel now expects to earn $2.36 to $2.42 per share this year, up from a prior target of $2.15 to $2.25. Analysts, on average, expected $2.29.

The company said it would release third-quarter results on August 20.

(Reporting by Jessica Wohl; editing by John Wallace)