spin off

NEWELL RUBBERMAID INC., $45.28, New York symbol NWL, is reportedly negotiating a merger with Jarden Corp. (New York symbol JAH). Jarden makes consumer products, including Sunbeam kitchen appliances, Mr. Coffee coffee makers, Ball jars, Crock-Pot cookers and Rawlings baseball mitts. It would cost around $11.8 billion to buy Jarden, which is almost equal to Newell’s $12.7-billion market cap (the value of all outstanding shares). The combined firm would have $14 billion of annual sales....

A corporate spin-off and a new issue or IPO are like two sides of a coin—one favourable to investors, the other unfavourable.

As consumers, particularly baby boomers, become more health conscious, they are eating fewer canned and packaged foods. In response, ConAgra and Campbell Soup are switching to organic ingredients and putting less salt and sugar in their products. Both firms are also cutting costs and investing in their core brands, which should spur their earnings— and dividends— in the long run. CONAGRA FOODS INC. $42 (New York symbol CAG; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 432.9 million; Market cap: $18.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.conagrafoods.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....

CONAGRA FOODS INC., $40.85, New York symbol CAG, rose 5% this week after announcing it will spin off its commercial-food operations as a separate publicly traded company. This new business, called Lamb Weston, sells frozen potatoes and other vegetable products to restaurants and other food makers. It had $2.9 billion of revenue in ConAgra’s 2015 fiscal year, which ended May 31, 2015. The remaining operations will operate as Conagra Brands and will focus on the company’s branded consumer foods, including Chef Boyardee canned pastas, Hunt’s tomato sauce and Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn. It will also hold ConAgra’s 44% stake in the Ardent Mills flour-milling joint venture. In fiscal 2015, these businesses had $7.2 billion of revenue....

APACHE CORP., $48.97, New York symbol APA, fell 8% after rival oil producer Anadarko Petroleum (New York symbol APC) withdrew its merger offer. Savings from eliminating overlapping functions would have helped the combined firm cope with weak oil prices.

Meanwhile, Apache produced 486,409 barrels of oil equivalent a day in the three months ended September 30, 2015, up 6.8% from 455,295 a year earlier. The gain mainly came from improving efficiency at the company’s international operations, including its offshore wells in the North Sea.

However, lower oil prices resulted in a $0.05-a-share loss, compared to a profit of $1.27 a share a year earlier. Even so, that was much better than the consensus estimate of a $0.36-a-share loss. Revenue dropped 56.5%, to $1.5 billion from $3.4 billion.

OUR RECOMMENDATION: Apache is still a hold.

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CONAGRA FOODS INC. $42 (New York symbol CAG; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 432.9 million; Market cap: $18.2 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.1; Dividend yield: 2.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.conagrafoods.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.

Consumers supply 70% of ConAgra’s sales. Businesses, including restaurants and other food makers, provide the remaining 30%. ConAgra’s sales jumped 44.2%, from $12.3 billion in 2011 to $17.7 billion in 2014 (fiscal years end May 31). That’s mainly due to its $4.75-billion acquisition of Ralcorp Holdings, the largest privatelabel food maker in the U.S., in January 2013.

However, the purchase didn’t work out as ConAgra hoped, so the company agreed to sell most of the Ralcorp business to TreeHouse Foods (New York symbol THS) for $2.7 billion in November 2015. Excluding Ralcorp, ConAgra’s overall sales fell to $15.8 billion in fiscal 2015.

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One of our top U.S. dividend stocks, Procter & Gamble knows which products to keep and which to sell off for greater long-term profits.

YUM! BRANDS INC., $72.89, New York symbol YUM, plans to spin off its operations in China as a separate firm. The company will hand out shares in Yum China to its own investors, who will not be liable for capital gains taxes until they sell. The company aims to complete the spinoff by the end of 2016. Yum China will operate 6,900 fast-food outlets under the KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell banners. In the three months ended September 5, 2015, this division supplied 57% of Yum’s overall sales....

Its niche in medical equipment testing has made Agilent Technologies one of our top U.S. growth stocks before and after its big spinoff.

MACY’S INC., $58.19, New York symbol M, operates 885 Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s department stores. It also sells goods online. This week, the company said it would close 35 to 40 of its less profitable Macy’s stores over the next few months. In all, these outlets supply 1% of the company’s sales. It didn’t say how much it expects to pay in severance and other costs. Like most traditional retailers, Macy’s is facing intense competition from online sellers like Amazon.com, which are expanding beyond books and movies to other merchandise such as clothing, shoes and cosmetics. Specialty chains and discount retailers, like Wal-Mart and Target, are also drawing shoppers away from department stores....