Topic: How To Invest

Q: Hello Pat: What is your opinion on Crown Holdings? Thanks.

Article Excerpt

A: Crown Holdings, $42.61, symbol CCK on New York (Shares outstanding: 135.2 million; Market cap: $5.7 billion; www.crowncork.com), formerly Crown Cork & Seal Company, is a worldwide leader in the design, manufacture and sale of metal beverage and food cans, metal aerosol containers, metal closures and specialty packaging. The company operates 143 plants, along with sales and service facilities in 36 countries. It has about 24,000 employees. In 1892, the founder of the company, William Painter, invented the bottle cap (also known as the crown cork). Crown supplies beverage cans and other packaging products to companies, including Anheuser-Busch InBev, Coca-Cola, Cott Beverages, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Heineken, Molson Coors, and PepsiCo. Its food-cans business supplies companies such as Abbot Laboratories, Bonduelle, Cecab, Morgan Foods, Nestlé, Princes Group, and Simmons Foods. The company’s aerosol cans go to companies such as Friesland Campina, Procter & Gamble, S.C. Johnson, and Unilever. Beverage cans account for 58% of Crown Holdings’ overall sales, while food cans account for…