Topic: How To Invest

Hi fellows. Just a quick question. I have seen some interesting comments on Smucker lately. What’s your view on Smucker as a buy? Or would it be better to buy Procter & Gamble? Thanks in advance.

Article Excerpt

The J.M. Smucker Company, $61.69, symbol SJM on New York (Shares outstanding: 119.0 million; Market cap: $7.3 billion), is the largest maker of jams, jellies and peanut butter in the U.S. Its top brands include Smucker’s, Jif and Pillsbury. It also makes cooking oil, baking ingredients and juices. Wal-Mart accounts for about 25% of Smucker’s sales. Smucker has grown through acquisitions over the past few years. In 2002, it bought the Jif peanut butter and Crisco shortening and oils businesses from Procter & Gamble in a $1 billion all-stock transaction. In November 2008, Smucker bought the Folgers coffee business from Procter in a similar all-stock deal worth $3.7 billion. Thanks to the Folgers purchase, Smucker earned $140.0 million in its second quarter, which ended October 31, 2009. That’s up 172.1% from $51.5 million a year earlier. Smucker issued common shares for Folgers, so its earnings per share rose just 25.5%, to $1.18 from $0.94. If you exclude merger-related costs, per-share earnings would…