Cut Your Risk With These Top Food Stocks

Article Excerpt

Our long-standing advice is to invest in well established companies and spread your funds out across the five main economic sectors: Manufacturing & Industry, Resources & Commodities, the Consumer sector, Finance and Utilities. Generally speaking, stocks in the Resources & Commodities sector and the Manufacturing & Industry sectors expose you to above-average volatility, while those in the Finance and Utilities sectors involve below-average volatility. Consumer sector stocks tend to fall in the middle. We prefer to zero in on Consumer stocks with the size and brands to overcome short-term setbacks, and succeed over the long term. A good example is Maple Leaf Foods, which has rebounded strongly since falling to $6.54 in the wake of last summer’s listeria outbreak. Saputo is also a favourite of ours. It relies on acquisitions for growth, but has a strong history of successfully integrating new operations. MAPLE LEAF FOODS INC. $10 (Toronto symbol MFI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 126.3 million; Market cap: $1.3 billion; Price-to-sales…