Diageo keeps the best of its best

Article Excerpt

DIAGEO PLC ADR $144 (New York symbol DEO; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; ADRs outstanding: 615.4 million; Market cap: $88.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 5.3; Dividend yield: 3.0%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.diageo.com) is a leading maker of premium alcoholic beverages. Its main brands include Guinness beer, Smirnoff vodka, Johnnie Walker scotch and Bailey’s liqueur. To keep up with growing demand for bourbon and whiskey, the company is currently building a new production facility in Kentucky. This new plant will cost $130 million, and should begin operating in 2021. Diageo’s earnings in fiscal 2019 (fiscal years end June 30) will likely decline to $6.35 per ADR from $6.42 in 2018. That’s mainly because the company recently sold 19 of its less-profitable brands for $550 million. The stock trades at a somewhat high 22.7 times the 2019 estimate. Diageo is still a hold. hold…