ConAgra opts for spinoff instead of sale

Article Excerpt

CONAGRA FOODS INC. $47 (New York symbol CAG; Income Portfolio, Consumer sector; Shares outstanding: 438.7 million; Market cap: $20.6 billion; Price-to-sales ratio: 1.8; Dividend yield: 2.1%; TSINetwork Rating: Above Average; www.conagrafoods.com) makes packaged foods, including Chef Boyardee canned pasta, Hunt’s tomato sauce, Peter Pan peanut butter, Orville Redenbacher popcorn and Reddi-wip whipped cream. ConAgra again plans to spin off its commercial-food operations — Lamb Weston— as a separate publicly traded firm after sale talks with Post Holdings (New York symbol POST) fell through. The spinoff sells frozen potatoes and other vegetable products to restaurants and other food makers. The remaining business will operate as Conagra Brands Inc. and will focus on the company’s branded consumer foods. ConAgra expects to complete the spinoff in the fall of 2016. Shareholders will only pay capital gains taxes when they sell the Lamb Weston shares they receive. ConAgra is a buy. buy…