These four offer investors healthy returns

Article Excerpt

Consumers continue to shift to more-healthful foods with less sugar and salt. That has forced many makers of packaged foods to improve the quality of their products—and so protect value for investors. Industry leaders are also using acquisitions to bolster their current offerings. The moves boost their long-term prospects and support their current dividend levels. Nonetheless, not all of these stocks are best for your new buying. Three of the four below, however, are. PEPSICO INC. $142 is still worth holding. The company (Nasdaq symbol PEP; Conservative Growth Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares o/s: 1.4 billion; Market cap: $198.8 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 3.0; Dividend yield: 2.9%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.pepsico.com) is the world’s second-largest soft-drink maker after Coca-Cola. Its other brands include Frito-Lay snack foods, Tropicana fruit juices and Quaker Oats cereals. PepsiCo is using acquisitions to cut its reliance on slowing sales of soft drinks and to add investor value. In December 2018, it paid $3.3 billion for SodaStream International, the Israeli company known…