Former #1 still shines

Article Excerpt

TUPPERWARE BRANDS CORP. $79 (New York symbol TUP; Conservative Growth and Income Portfolios, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 50.7 million; Market cap: $4.0 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.7; Dividend yield: 3.4%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.tupperwarebrands.com) is up 68.1% since we named it as our #1 buy for 2011. The company continues to benefit from strong demand for its plastic food containers and beauty products in emerging markets such as Asia and South America, which now supply 45% of its total sales. That’s helping it offset weaker sales in North America and Europe. Tupperware’s sales rose 3.4% in 2013, to $2.7 billion from $2.6 billion in 2012. If you disregard the negative impact of foreign exchange rates, sales rose 6%. Excluding costs related to plant closures and other unusual items, earnings gained 2.5%, to $288.3 million from $281.4 million. Due to fewer shares outstanding, earnings per share rose 8.8%, to $5.43 from $4.99. Tupperware expects that its sales will rise 6% in…