Topic: How To Invest

Which companies make the automated equipment used to manufacture foods, such as cereals at General Mills, and how do these companies compare to the food manufacturers as investments.

Article Excerpt

Leading U.S. makers of food processing machinery and control systems include FMC FoodTech, SPX Process Equipment and Rockwell Automation. As well, some major foreign manufacturers operate in the U.S., including the Tetra Laval Group (Switzerland) and Odenburg Engineering (Netherlands). Of these, only Rockwell Automation, $71.04, symbol ROK on New York (Shares outstanding: 145.2 million; Market cap: $10.3 billion; www.rockwellautomation.com), trades on a U.S. stock exchange. However, food and beverage companies are a small market for Rockwell. We don’t recommend any food processing equipment makers as buys. To profit from food manufacturing, we think you are better off buying food making stocks we recommend as buys, such as General Mills, $38.50, symbol GIS on New York (Shares outstanding: 667.0 million; Market cap: $25.7 billion; www.generalmills.com), Campbell Soup, $31.70, symbol CPB on New York (Shares outstanding: 322.0 million; Market cap: $10.2 billion; www.campbellsoup.com); H.J. Heinz, $50.81, symbol HNZ on New York (Shares outstanding: 323.6 million; Market cap: $16.4 billion; www.heinz.com), and Kraft Foods, $34.89,…