Topic: Growth Stocks

Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline – Friday, June 19, 2015

Article Excerpt

CONAGRA FOODS INC., $43.37, New York symbol CAG, jumped 11% on Friday on news that activist investment firm Jana Partners now owns 7.2% of the company. Jana will probably push ConAgra to sell or spin off its private-label food business. In January 2013, ConAgra paid $4.75 billion for Ralcorp Holdings, the largest private-label food maker in the U.S. However, strong competition has hurt its sales and earnings. As a result, ConAgra has had to writedown this investment by $2.1 billion. To put these figures in context, ConAgra’s market cap is $17.0 billion. Even if ConAgra decides to keep the private-label division, Jana’s involvement should help speed up a restructuring plan that aims to improve this business’s profitability. These initiatives include better packaging, speedier deliveries and launching new products. ConAgra is still a buy. ConAgra was recently covered in the June 2015 issue of Wall Street Stock Forecaster. Click here to access it. ConAgra was recently covered in the Wall Street Stock Forecaster Hotline for…