Del Monte cuts costs, boosts sales

Article Excerpt

DEL MONTE FOODS CO. $15 (New York symbol DLM; Aggressive Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 198.6 million; Market cap: $3.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 1.1%; WSSF Rating: Average) makes canned fruit, vegetables, sauces and soups. It also makes pet food. In its third quarter, which ended January 31, 2010, earnings fell 4.0%, to $57.2 million from $59.6 million a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 6.7%, to $0.28 from $0.30, on fewer shares outstanding. If you exclude a charge related to the early repayment of debt, it would have earned $0.34 a share in the latest quarter. Del Monte continues to benefit from its drive to improve productivity. This should cut its costs by $80 million in fiscal 2010. Del Monte is using the savings to increase its marketing activities. That’s helping it compete with private-label foods: Its sales rose 7.5% in the latest quarter, to $1.0 billion from $942.3 million. Del Monte is a buy. buy…