Topic: Growth Stocks

TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORP. $40 – New York symbol TUP

TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORP. $40 (New York symbol TUP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 63 million; Market cap: $2.5 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.3; WSSF Rating: Above Average) makes plastic food and beverage containers. It also makes beauty products. The company sells its products through a network of independent dealers instead of traditional retail stores. This keeps its distribution costs low.

Tupperware gets over 80% of its sales from outside of the U.S., so it’s particularly vulnerable to a rising U.S. dollar. In the three months ended June 27, 2009, sales fell 10.1%, to $524.7 million from $583.6 million a year earlier. But if you disregard foreign-exchange rates, its sales would have risen 4%.

Earnings fell 7.1%, to $0.52 a share (or a total of $33.1 million) from $0.56 a share (or $36.0 million). However, earnings rose 42% on a constant-currency basis. The company is selling more high-margin products; this was the main reason behind the earnings gain. Tupperware also benefited from lower resin and freight costs.

The latest earnings also included a $28.1-million writedown of goodwill, as well as a $10.1-million insurance gain related to a fire at its South Carolina plant in 2007. Without these items, Tupperware would have earned $0.86 a share.

The stock has rebounded strongly since it fell to $11 last March. Despite the gain, it still trades at a reasonable 15.0 times Tupperware’s 2009 profit forecast of $2.66 a share. The $0.88 dividend yields 2.2%.

Tupperware is a buy.

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