UPDATE 3-Hormel quarterly profit up 14 pct; shares fall

(Rewrites first sentence, adds CEO and analyst comment, updates share price).

By Bob Burgdorfer

CHICAGO, May 22 (Reuters) - U.S. meat company Hormel Foods Corp (HRL.N: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) reported a 14 percent rise in quarterly profit on Thursday, boosted by the popularity of its refrigerated foods and better sales of its Spam lunch meat, Hormel chili and Dinty Moore stew.

While the results beat the average forecast by a penny, shares were lower as the company warned of slower profit growth the remainder of the fiscal year amid higher feed and fuel costs. It left its fiscal-year earnings forecast unchanged at $2.30 to $2.40 per share.

The Austin, Minnesota-company said profit was $77.56 million, or 56 cents a share, in the fiscal second quarter that ended April 27, compared with $68 million, or 49 cents a share, a year earlier.

Analysts' average earnings forecast was 55 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.

"It was a solid quarter for Hormel Foods," Jeffrey Ettinger, chairman and chief executive officer, said in a statement. "We were able to meet our objectives for sales and earnings growth in the second quarter."

Sales rose 6 percent to $1.59 billion.

"We should still be able to grow our business, but we don't think it is going to be at the rate we have been delivering in the first half," Ettinger told Wall Street analysts during an conference call about the earnings.