McCormick

MCCORMICK & CO. INC. $46 (New York symbol MKC; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 132.3 million; Market cap: $6.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 2.7%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.mccormick.com) is the world’s leading maker of spices, herbs, seasonings, flavourings, sauces and extracts. It sells its products to consumers, restaurants and industrial food processors. Top brands include McCormick, Club …read more »

McCormick & Co., Inc., New York symbol MKC, makes spices, herbs, seasonings, specialty foods and flavours, and markets them to the food industry.

McCormick is one of the companies we analyze in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter for investing in U.S. stocks.

In its second quarter, which ended May 31, 2011, McCormick’s earnings rose 11.2%, to $73.6 million from $66.2 …read more »

High-quality foreign stocks are a great way to diversify your portfolio. Moreover, many fast-growing markets, like China and India, have positive outlooks. That’s because their people are generally younger than North Americans, and rising incomes are helping more of them advance into the middle class.

Even so, investing in India and other overseas markets remains riskier than investing in North America. …read more »

McCormick & Co. Inc., New York symbol MKC, makes spices, herbs, seasonings, specialty foods and flavours, and markets them to the food industry. In addition to North America and Europe, the company operates in Mexico, Central America, Australia, China, Singapore, Thailand and South Africa. The U.S. stock’s brands include McCormick, Old Bay, Thai Kitchen and Billy Bee.

In the three months …read more »

MCCORMICK & CO. INC. $40 has agreed to buy 26% of Eastern Condiments Private Ltd., a leading maker of spices and seasonings in India. The deal should close by the end of 2010. McCormick is paying $35 million for this stake; it earned $66.2 million, or $0.49 a share, in the three months ended May 31, 2010. India is the …read more »

MCCORMICK & CO. INC. $38 (New York symbol MKC; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 130.9 million; Market cap: $5.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.6; Dividend yield: 2.7%; WSSF Rating: Average) is the world’s leading maker of spices, herbs, seasonings, flavourings, sauces and extracts. It sells its products to consumers, restaurants and industrial food processors. Its top brands include McCormick, Club …read more »

Food processors like the seven companies we analyze below add stability to any portfolio. That’s because they’ve built brands that have strong customer loyalty and produce steady, predictable revenue streams. These seven firms’ strong brands are also helping them expand in developing markets, such as Asia and Latin America.

These seven stocks trade at reasonable multiples to earnings, and have long …read more »

MCCORMICK & CO. INC. $36 (New York symbol MKC; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 115.1 million; Market cap: $4.1 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) is the world’s leading maker of spices, herbs, seasonings, flavorings, sauces and extracts. Top brands include McCormick, Club House, Zatarain’s and Schwartz.

McCormick likes to use acquisitions to enhance its product line or expand overseas. For example, …read more »

Rising costs for ingredients such as wheat, corn and meat have squeezed profit margins at most food processing companies. Higher packaging and transportation costs are also hurting earnings.

We feel investors should now more than ever focus on leading food companies, such as these six. Their strong brands and high market share make it easier for them to pass along higher …read more »

MCCORMICK & CO. LTD. $40 (New York symbol MKC; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; WSSF Rating: Average) is thinking about acquiring a controlling stake in one of India’s biggest makers of spices and other foods. Demand for processed foods in India is growing strongly as average incomes rise. McCormick could use it to expand sales in other parts of Asia.

The company …read more »