Sysco Faces Rising Costs, Fierce Bargaining

Article Excerpt

SYSCO CORP. $31 (New York symbol SYY; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 618.0 million; Market cap: $19.2 billion; WSSF Rating: Average) is North America’s largest supplier of food and related products to restaurants, schools, hotels and hospitals. It has 400,000 customers in the United States and Canada, or roughly 15% of the foodservice market. Sysco is focusing on innovative new ways to expand sales. For instance, its salespeople recently began meeting with individual customers to get a better idea of their needs, and make them aware of Sysco’s other products and services. So far, sales to these customers tend to rise by 15% following a review. Sysco’s plan to expand its salesforce by 7% should also help it squeeze more sales out of existing customers, and find new ones. Besides higher sales, Sysco also aims to increase earnings with lower costs. The company plans to open several large regional warehouses over the next few years. These facilities will let it store…