Mondelez can handle higher costs

Article Excerpt

MONDELEZ INTERNATIONAL INC. $58 is a buy. The company (Nasdaq symbol MDLZ; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $81.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.7; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.mondelezinternational.com) mainly makes snack foods, such as cookies and chocolate bars, and gum. In the three months ended June 30, 2022, sales rose 9.5%, to $7.27 billion from $6.64 billion a year earlier. If you factor out acquisitions and currency rates, sales improved 13.1% on higher prices (up 8.0%) and volumes (up 5.1%). If you exclude unusual items, earnings fell 0.5%, to $925 million from $930 billion. That’s largely due to the negative impact of the high U.S. dollar and higher input costs. Due to fewer shares outstanding, per-share earnings gained 1.5%, to $0.67 from $0.66. With the October 2022 payment, the company will raise your quarterly dividend by 10.0%. The new annual rate of $1.54 yields a solid 2.7%. Mondelez is a buy. buy. …