Maple Leaf Foods: Buy For Hidden Value

Article Excerpt

MAPLE LEAF FOODS INC. $14 (Toronto symbol MFI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 129.1 million; Market cap: $1.8 billion; SI Rating: Average) is Canada’s leading supplier of fresh and frozen meat products. Major brands include Maple Leaf and Schneiders. In July 2007, Maple Leaf sold its animal feed operations as part of a major restructuring plan to focus on its more profitable value-added food businesses. Maple Leaf used the gross proceeds of $525 million to pay down its long-term debt, from $1.2 billion at the end of 2006 to $845.4 million at September 30, 2007. That’s still high at 60% of Maple Leaf’s market cap, but reasonable in light of the company’s well-known brands and improving long-term prospects. If you disregard the discontinued animal feed operations, restructuring costs and other onetime items, Maple Leaf earned $0.06 a share (total $7.6 million) in the third quarter of 2008, up 20.0% from $0.05 a share ($6.0 million) a year earlier. Sales fell 1.5%, to…