We prefer food sellers over food producers

Under pressure from the federal government, Canada’s leading grocery chains have agreed to a series of measures to lower prices for consumers. Those include discounts, price-matching campaigns, and price freezes. The government is also looking at ways to get food producers to lower their prices.
We… Read More

This growth stock can still go higher

Starbucks’ Howard Schultz recently stepped down as CEO and as a director but will continue as Chairman Emeritus.
We expect his successor, Laxman Narasimhan, the former CEO of U.K.-based consumer-products company Reckitt Benckiser, will continue to implement the company’s latest growth plan. That includes adding more… Read More

Higher prices offset its higher costs

MAPLE LEAF FOODS INC. $30 is still a hold. The company (Toronto symbol MFI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 122.1 million; Market cap: $3.7 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mapleleaffoods.com) sells fresh and prepared meats under the Maple Leaf and Schneider… Read More

Strong brands give these foodmakers an edge

These two foodmakers continue to raise their selling prices to offset rising costs for ingredients, fuel, labour and other inputs. Even so, consumers seem willing to stick with their strong brands, which they see as affordable luxuries, instead of switching to cheaper products. Both firms… Read More

Updating your Conservative-Growth Payers: Kraft Heinz

KRAFT HEINZ CO. $36 is a buy. The company (Nasdaq symbol KHC, Conservative-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $48.0 billion; Dividend yield: 4.0%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Average; www.kraftheinzcompany.com) is a leading producer of processed foods. Its top brands include Velveeta and Philadelphia cheese… Read More