Challenging times for these food producers

Article Excerpt

These four food and beverage makers face several obstacles to earnings growth, including rising costs for ingredients and labour and higher interest expenses. As a result, they have raised their selling prices to offset those higher input costs. They are also adding new products in response to changing consumer tastes. We like the long-term prospects of all four, but see only Andrew Peller as a buy for right now. SAPUTO INC. $26 is a hold. The company (Toronto symbol SAP; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 418.1 million; Market cap: $10.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.6; Dividend yield: 2.8%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.saputo.com) is Canada’s largest producer of dairy products. It also operates dairies in the U.S., Australia, the U.K. and Argentina. Saputo’s sales in its fiscal 2024 second quarter, ended September 30, 2023, fell 3.1%, to $4.32 billion from $4.46 billion a year earlier. Lower sales in the U.S. and international operations offset gains in Canada. The company recently began a multi-year restructuring plan. For example,…