Foodmakers pivot to healthier products

Article Excerpt

In response to rising consumer demand more healthful foods, Mondelez and Campbell’s are reformulating their products with new ingredients. While that will add to their costs, it should also help drive their long-term sales. Moreover, their strong brands make it easier for them to pass along those higher costs to customers. MONDELEZ INTERNATIONAL INC. $63 is a buy. The company (Nasdaq symbol MDLZ; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.3 billion; Market cap: $81.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.mondelezinternational.com) makes snack foods such as cookies and chocolate bars. Top brands include Oreo cookies, Cadbury chocolate, and Ritz crackers. In November 2024, the company paid $240 million for a majority stake in Evirth, a Chinese maker of frozen-to-chilled cakes and pastries. That purchase helped lift Mondelez’s revenue in the fourth quarter of 2024 by 3.1%, to $9.60 billion from $9.31 billion a year earlier. If you factor out currency rates, revenue improved 5.2%. However, higher input costs cut earnings…