HILLSHIRE BRANDS CO. $32 (New York symbol HSH; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 123.3 million; Market cap: $3.9 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.0; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.hillshirebrands.com) makes a variety of packaged meat products. Its main brands include Ball Park hot dogs, Jimmy Dean sausages and Hillshire Farm deli meats.
The company has raised its quarterly dividend by 40.0%, to $0.175 a share from $0.125. The new annual rate of $0.70 yields 2.2%. It also plans to buy back $200 million of its shares in the next two years.
The stock trades at 18.6 times the $1.72 a share it will probably earn in the fiscal year ending June 30, 2014. That’s a high p/e ratio for a company that faces strong price competition from larger food makers.
Hillshire Brands is a hold.