Pinnacle Foods is primed for a buyout

Article Excerpt

PINNACLE FOODS INC. $63 (New York symbol PF; Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 119.2 million; Market cap: $7.5 billion; Dividend yield: 2.1%; Takeover Target Rating: Highest; www.pinnancefoods.com) is a food company with Duncan Hines, Vlasic, Wish-Bone, Birds Eye, Aunt Jemima and other brands. On April 22, hedge fund Jana Partners—an activist investor—announced it had acquired a 9.1% stake in the company. Jana believes Pinnacle Foods can be run more efficiently. It wants to appoint directors to the board who can push for change. That includes the possibility of the company’s outright sale. Potential buyers include Conagra Brands (New York symbol CAG) and Kraft Heinz Co. (Nasdaq symbol KHC). In fact, Conagra held discussions with Pinnacle last year about buying the company. In 2014, Hillshire Brands Co. nearly bought Pinnacle, but Tyson Foods jumped in and bought Hillshire, cancelling the Pinnacle deal. The most attractive part of Pinnacle is its Birds Eye frozen foods brand. That label continues to see strong growth, with lots of new vegetable…