U.S.A. stock market: Overseas sales continue to grow for Heinz

H.J. Heinz Co., symbol HNZ on New York, continues to see strong demand for its foods in China, Brazil and other fast-growing markets. The company now gets 70% of its sales from outside the U.S. Heinz is one of the stocks we analyze in Wall Street Stock Forecaster, our newsletter for U.S.A. stock market investing. Strong demand from overseas markets pushed up Heinz’s sales by 14.9% in the three months ended July 27, 2011, to $2.8 billion from $2.5 billion a year earlier. Emerging markets accounted for 23% of sales, up from 18% a year earlier. The company also raised its selling prices to offset rising ingredient costs. Heinz earned $226.1 million in the quarter, down 6.0% from $240.4 million a year earlier. Earnings per share fell 6.7%, to $0.70 from $0.75, on more shares outstanding. If you exclude costs to integrate a recent acquisition and severance costs related to an ongoing restructuring plan, Heinz would have earned $0.78 a share, up 4.0% from $0.75. The latest earnings beat the consensus estimate of $0.76 a share. Heinz is just one of the U.S.A. stock market investments we analyze in our Wall Street Stock Forecaster newsletter. We updated our advice on Heinz in our August 26, 2011, Wall Street Stock Forecaster hotline, which you can immediately view when you take a 1-month free trial to Wall Street Stock Forecaster. Click here to get started right away. (Note: If you are a current Wall Street Stock Forecaster subscriber, please click here to view Pat’s recommendation. Be sure to log in first.)

Jim is an associate editor at TSI Network. He is the lead reporter and analyst for The Successful Investor and Wall Street Stock Forecaster and a member of the Investment Planning Committee. Jim has held the Chartered Financial Analyst designation since 1992 and spent more than a decade at the Financial Post DataGroup before joining TSI Network. He has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from the University of Toronto.