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GANNETT CO., INC. $18 (New York symbol GCI; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector: Shares outstanding: 116.5 million; Market cap: $2.1 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 0.7; Dividend yield: 3.6%; TSINetwork Rating: Average; www.gannett.com) publishes daily newspapers in 107 U.S. markets, including its flagship newspaper, USAToday. It also has 19 papers in the U.K., and over 200 magazines and other publications. The company has offered to buy Tribune Publishing Co. (New York symbol TPUB). This firm owns 11 daily papers, including the Chicago Tribune and the Los Angeles Times, as well as 160 weekly papers and 120 websites. Including Tribune’s debt, the offer is worth $815 million. Eliminating overlapping operations would let Gannett cut $50 million from its annual costs; it earned $209.1 million, or $1.79 a share, in 2015....
KRAFT HEINZ CO. $79 (Nasdaq symbol KHC; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $94.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.2; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.kraftheinzcompany.com) makes condiments and sauces (such as Heinz Ketchup) as well as other packaged foods. These include Velveeta and Philadelphia Cream Cheese, processed meats (such as Oscar Meyer hot dogs) and beverages (such as Maxwell House coffee). Kraft Heinz took its current form on July 2, 2015, through the merger of Kraft Foods Group and H.J. Heinz. The combined firm is the fifth-largest food and beverage producer globally. The new company’s sales fell 5.8%, to $27.5 billion in 2015 from $29.1 billion in 2014. Adjusting for currency exchange rates and businesses it sold, sales for 2015 fell just 1.6%....
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%....