Top pick Barrick Mining just raised its dividend a whopping 140% as it generates record earnings and continues its strategic asset reorganization.
Warner Music Group Corp. is well-positioned for higher-margin catalog revenues, added streaming adoption, and new AI monetization opportunities.
ARC Resources keeps returning its cash flow to shareholders through a growing dividend and substantial share buybacks.
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MONDELEZ INTERNATIONAL INC. $44 (Nasdaq symbol MDLZ; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.6 billion; Market cap: $70.4 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.3; Dividend yield: 1.5%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.mondelezinternational.com) makes cookies and biscuits (Oreo, Chips Ahoy!, Ritz), chocolate bars (Cadbury, Toblerone), gum and candy (Trident, Chiclets) and Halls cough drops. In the first quarter of 2016, Mondelez’s revenue fell 16.8%, to $6.5 billion from $7.8 billion a year earlier. Factoring out currency rates, sales rose 2.1%. Due to savings from plant closures and better efficiency, earnings per share jumped 23.1%, to $0.48 from $0.39. As of March 31, 2016, Mondelez held cash of $1.3 billion. Its long-term debt of $13.8 billion is a moderate 20% of its market cap....
GENERAL MILLS INC. $61 (New York symbol GIS, Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 594.4 million; Market cap: $36.3 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 2.1; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.generalmills.com) is one of the world’s largest food makers. Its top brands include Cheerios, Wheaties and Trix (cereals), Pillsbury and Betty Crocker (baking products), Haagen-Dazs (ice cream), Old El Paso (tacos), Progresso (soups and salads) and Yoplait (yogurt). The company recently sold its North American Green Giant frozen vegetable business for $788 million. It will continue to use the Green Giant brand outside of North America. Partly due to that deal, General Mills’ overall sales in its fiscal 2016 third quarter, which ended February 28, 2016, fell 8.0%, to $4.00 billion from $4.35 billion a year earlier. Excluding exchange rates, sales declined just 4.0%....
CONAGRA FOODS INC. $45 (New York symbol CAG; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 436.4 million; Market cap: $19.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.2; Dividend yield: 2.2%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.conagra foods.com) makes packaged foods, including Chef Boyardee canned pasta, Hunt’s tomato sauce, Peter Pan peanut butter, Orville Redenbacher popcorn and Reddi-wip whipped cream. The company recently sold its private-label foods business to TreeHouse Foods (New York symbol THS) for $2.6 billion. Excluding these operations, ConAgra sales for its fiscal 2016 third quarter, which ended February 28, 2016, rose 0.6%, to $2.92 billion from $2.91 billion a year earlier. Earnings fell 11.6%, to $187.6 million from $212.3 million. Due to more shares outstanding, earnings per share fell 16.3%, to $0.41 from $0.49....
CAMPBELL SOUP CO. $62 (New York symbol CPB; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 309.2 million; Market cap: $19.2 billion; Priceto- sales ratio: 2.4; Dividend yield: 2.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.campbellsoup company) is the world’s largest maker of canned soups. It also makes Pepperidge Farm cookies and V8 vegetable juices. The company continues to benefit from its recent job cuts and efficiency improvements. The plan should save it $300 million a year by 2018. The restructuring also helped Campbell earn $265 million in its fiscal 2016 second quarter. That’s a 19.4% increase from the $222 million a year earlier. Per-share earnings rose 19.7%, to $0.85 from $0.71, on fewer shares outstanding....