Topic: Growth Stocks

KRAFT FOODS GROUP INC. $57 – Nasdaq symbol KRFT

KRAFT FOODS GROUP INC. $57 (Nasdaq symbol KRFT; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 595.3 million; Market cap: $33.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.9; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.kraftfoodsgroup.com) makes a variety of grocery products, including Kraft macaroni and cheese, Maxwell House coffee, Oscar Mayer meats, Philadelphia cream cheese, Jell-O desserts and Miracle Whip salad dressing.

Following the split from Mondelez, Kraft began consolidating plants and eliminating less-profitable products. The company expects to spend $625 million by the time it completes the plan in late 2014.

In the three months ended June 28, 2014, Kraft’s earnings fell 41.9%, to $482 million, or $0.80 a share. A year earlier, it earned $829 million, or $1.38 a share. If you disregard unusual items, earnings per share increased 7.9%, to $0.82 from $0.76.

Sales in the quarter rose 0.7%, to $4.75 billion from $4.72 billion. If you exclude businesses it bought and sold in the past year, sales gained 1.5% due to higher volumes (up 0.9%) and selling prices (up 0.6%).

The stock is up 24% since the split with Mondelez and trades at a reasonable 17.8 times the $3.20 a share that Kraft should earn in 2014. The $2.10 dividend yields 3.7%.

Kraft Foods Group is a buy.

Comments

Tell Us What YOU Think

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Please be respectful with your comments and help us keep this an area that everyone can enjoy. If you believe a comment is abusive or otherwise violates our Terms of Use, please click here to report it to the administrator.