Molson is the better choice for new buying

Article Excerpt

The shares of PepsiCo and Molson Coors have dropped recently, partly because consumers continue to shift to more-healthful drinks. However, companies should benefit from their cost-cutting plans and lower taxes. PEPSICO INC. $100 (New York symbol PEP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $140.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.2; Dividend yield: 3.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pepsico.com) is the world’s second-largest soft-drink maker after Coca-Cola. Its other brands include Frito-Lay snack foods, Gatorade sports drinks, Tropicana fruit juices and Quaker Oats cereals. In the three months ended March 24, 2018, sales rose 4.3%, to $12.56 billion from $12.05 billion a year earlier. If you exclude the impact of currency exchange rates and the businesses that PepsiCo bought and sold over the last 12 months, the company’s overall sales improved 2.3%. PepsiCo continues to make progress with a multi-year plan to improve its efficiency. That includes closing warehouses and automating more of its bottling plants. It expects to complete the plan by…