Top 10 Consumer Companies To Buy Right Now

Top 10 Consumer Companies To Buy Right Now: McCormick & Company Inc (MKC)

McCormick & Company, Incorporated (McCormick) manufactures, markets and distributes spices, seasoning mixes, condiments and other flavorful products to the food industry, retail outlets, food manufacturers and foodservice businesses. The Company's sales, distribution and production facilities are located in North America and Europe. Additional facilities are based in China, Australia, Mexico, India, Singapore, Central America, Thailand and South Africa. The Company operates in two business segments: consumer and industrial. During the fiscal year ended November 30, 2011, the Company's consumer business contributed 59% of sales and 79% of operating income and the industrial business contributed 41% of sales and 21% of operating income.

McCormick's products are sold directly to customers and also through brokers, wholesalers, and distributors. In the consumer segment, products are resold to consumers through a range of retail outlets, including grocery, ma ss merchandise, warehouse clubs, discount, and drug stores under a range of brands. In the industrial segment, products are used by food and beverage manufacturers as ingredients for their finished goods and by food service customers as ingredients for menu items to enhance the flavor of their foods. Customers for the industrial segment include food manufacturers and the foodservice industry supplied both directly and indirectly through distributors.

Consumer Business

The Company's brands in the Americas include McCormick, Lawry's and Club House. The Company also markets brands, such as Zatarain's, Thai Kitchen and Simply Asia. In Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) its brands include the Ducros, Schwartz and Kamis brands of spices, herbs and seasonings and a line of Vahine brand dessert items. In the Asia/Pacific region i! ts primary brand is McCormick, with the exception of India where its joint venture owns and trades under the Kohinoor brand. The Company's customers span a variety of retail o! utlets that include grocery, mass merchandise, warehouse clubs, discount and drug stores, served directly and indirectly through distributors or wholesalers. In addition to marketing its products to these customers, the Company is also a supplier of private label items, also known as store brands. More than 250 other brands are sold in the United States with additional brands in international markets.

Industrial Business

In its industrial business, the Company provides a range of products to multinational food manufacturers and foodservice customers. The foodservice customers are supplied both directly and indirectly through distributors. Its range of products include seasoning blends, natural spices and herbs, wet flavors, coating systems and compound flavors. In addition to a broad range of flavor solutions, we strive to achieve customer intimacy.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jonas Elmerraji]

  McCormick & Company (MKC) is the world's biggest spice, extract, and seasoning company, selling its food additives through retail grocery chains, food processing companies, and restaurants. The firm's brands include its namesake McCormick line, as well as Zatarain's, Lawry's, and Old Bay.

  Right now, McCormick's stock has a short interest ratio of 11.9, implying that more than two weeks of buying pressure would be needed for short sellers to cover their bets.

  McCormick owns the spice aisle at your local grocery store -- that's significant because those little containers of cinnamon and turmeric are expensive (and they come built-in with fat margins). As a result, the firm has been able to consistently book net margins in the low double-digits. McCormick's expertise gives it an economic moat; because industrial food companies often need to turn to the firm for hel! p in deve! loping new flavors, MKC has a Rolodex of sticky high-volume businesses.

  International sales have quietly been gaining steam at McCormick. Today, the firm earns 40 cents out of every sales dollar overseas, a proportion that should continue to climb, especially as developing markets develop a taste for pre-mixed seasoning that earn bigger profit margins. The firm's next earnings call in January could provide a squeeze catalyst for this stock.

• [By Vera Yuan]

  Two portfolio holdings were eliminated in the third quarter of 2014 – American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. (AEO) and McCormick & Company, Inc. (MKC) as future returns were viewed as unlikely to reach the levels needed for retention in the portfolio.From Westport Asset Management (Trades, Portfolio)'s Westport Fund Third Quarter 2014 Commentary.Also check out: Westport Asset Management Undervalued Stocks Westport Asset Management Top Growth Companies Westport Asset Management High Yield stocks, and Stocks that Westport Asset Management keeps buying Currently 0.00/512345

  Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes)

• [By Sure Dividend]

  No matter how much information we have, people will always need to eat. One way to look at if an industry has managed to grow over decades is to see how many Dividend Aristocrats the industry claims. Dividend Aristocrats are businesses that have increased their dividend payments for 25 or more consecutive years, and meet certain size and liquidity requirements. These are businesses that have withstood all of the changes of the last 25 or more years, and managed to grow consistently and profitably. There are 54 Dividend Aristocrats. The list below shows the Dividend Aristocrats whose primary business relates to food and/or beverages:

  McDonald's (MCD) Coca-Cola (KO) PepsiCo (PEP) McCormick & Co. (MKC) Archer-Daniels-Midland (ADM) Hormel Foods (HRL) Brown-Forman (BF.B) Sysco (SYY)

  Of the 54 Dividend Aristocrats, eight (~15%) make their money from food and/or beverag! es. Inter! estingly, six of the seven (ADM and SYY are the exception) make their money from branded consumer food and beverages. If you are looking for slow-changing businesses that grow year after year, branded food companies are a good place to search.

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  www.cintas.com From the leading distributor of spices and seasonings posting quarterly results to the top dog in corporate identity uniforms providing a snapshot of corporate America, here are some of the things that will help shape the week that lies ahead on Wall Street. Monday -- Uniform Decision The new trading week kicks off with Cintas (CTAS) reporting quarterly results. Cintas is the leading provider of leased company uniforms and other workplace essentials. The role it plays makes it a great bellwether for the state of corporate America. If companies are hiring, you will see it in an increase in revenue as orders pick up. Analysts see profitability improving at Cintas when it reports on Monday afternoon, but they also see revenue declining slightly. Tuesday -- Windows Watching Microsoft (MSFT) is hosting a press event in San Francisco on Tuesday. It was initially rumored to be the software giant's unveiling of Windows 9, but more recent reports speculate that Windows 9 won't be ready for public preview until next month. Microsoft has plenty of work to do in swaying a marketplace that wasn't wowed by Windows 8. The next operating system will likely retain many of the popular existing features while also bringing back some of the Windows 7 offerings, like making it easier to switch from the tiled layout of Windows 8 to the standard Start menu of Windows 7. Wednesday -- Lighten Up The fourth quarter officially kicks off on Wednesday. One company stepping up with fresh financials is Acuity Brands (AYI). The Atlanta-based provider of lighting solutions rang up $2 billion in sales last year across roughly two dozen brands. Wall Street pros see revenue climbing 12 percent in its fiscal fourth quarter! . The ana! lysts also see Acuity checking in with a profit of $1.22 a share, up nicely from the $1.03 a share it posted a year earlier. Thursday -- Spice of Life Things should spice up on Thursday morning when McCormick (MKC) reports its quarterly result

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-10-consumer-companies-to-buy-right-now-3.html