Healthy outlook for Kraft

Article Excerpt

KRAFT HEINZ CO. $40 is a buy. The foodmaker (Nasdaq symbol KHC, Conservative-Growth Dividend Payer Portfolio; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 1.2 billion; Market cap: $48.0 billion; Dividend yield: 4.0%; Dividend Sustainability Rating: Average; www.kraftheinzcompany.com) cut its quarterly dividend by 36.5% with the March 2019 payment, to $0.40 a share from $0.63. The annual rate of $1.60 nonetheless yields a high 4.0%. Kraft Heinz continues to develop healthier products in response to changing consumer tastes. It recently formed a new alliance with TheNotCompany, a Chilean firm that specializes in plant-based meat substitutes. That will help Kraft Heinz launch vegetarian versions of its Oscar Meyer hot dogs and other meat products. The company expects new products and higher prices to increase its sales (excluding businesses it bought and sold and currency rates) by about 5% in 2022. As well, it will probably earn $2.69 a share in 2022, and the stock trades at a reasonable 14.9 times that forecast. Kraft Heinz is a buy. buy…