CONAGRA FOODS INC. $32 (New York symbol CAG; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 420.4 million; Market cap: $13.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.8; Dividend yield: 3.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.- conagrafoods.com) is facing strong competition from other processed food makers, which has slowed its earnings growth. Even so, the stock has held up well since we made it our #1 buy for 2013.
The company continues to cut costs— including through a new flour-milling joint venture— after last year’s purchase of private-label food maker Ralcorp. These savings will help offset the loss of a big corporate customer. Moreover, ConAgra trades at a moderate 13.6 times its projected fiscal 2014 earnings of $2.35 a share. The stock yields a high 3.1%.
ConAgra is a buy.