These 3 Just Hit New Highs

Levels of food price inflation continue higher as the Fed considers taming the phenomenon through the use of higher interest rates for longer periods of time. In the meantime, certain well-known, name-brand food stocks seem to benefit from it as their stocks climb to new 52-week highs.

Other factors are at work, of course, but it’s hard not to notice how the upward trend of food prices coincides with an upward trend in some food stocks. As long as the inflation trend continues, it seems to be good for these names but what happens when the Fed’s actions finally put a halt to it?

In the meantime, these 3 food products stocks are blasting up to higher highs even as the big, widely followed tech and social media stocks are sputtering:

Fresh Del Monte Produce (NYSE: FDP) produces and distributes fruits and vegetables, juices, beverages, snacks and desserts. Although incorporated in George Town, Cayman Islands, the company operates from U. S. headquarters in the Coral Gables, Florida.

Fresh Del Monte Produce does business worldwide including in Japan, South Korea, North Africa, the Middle East, Europe, Brazil and North America. The company’s brands include “Honey Glow Pineapple,” “Cavendish” bananas and “Hass” avocados. This business is not to be confused with “Del Monte Foods,” a different company.

The stock is trading at a 27% discount from its book value, with a price-earnings ratio of 19.88. Earnings per share last year increased by 62.50% but declined over the past 5 years by 17.30%. Fresh Del Monte Produce is lightly traded with an average daily volume of just 191,000 shares.

The company pays a dividend of 2.62%.

Here’s the daily price chart for Fresh Del Monte Produce:

Hershey Foods (NYSE: HSY) is a leading maker of chocolates, mints and other types of snacks. In business since 1894, the company is based in Hershey, Pennsylvania and these days its most well-known products may be Reese peanut butter cups, Kiss chocolates and SkinnyPop popcorn.

Earnings per share declined last year by 9.80%. The 5-year EPS record shows growth of 9.62%. Shareholder equity is slightly exceeded by the amount of long-term debt on the books.

Hershey Foods trades with a price-earnings ratio of 35.57, higher than the p/e of the S&P 500 which now comes in at 21.33. Average daily volume for the stock is 986,000 shares.

The company offers a 1.72% dividend.

The daily price chart for Hershey Foods looks like this:

Lamb Weston HoldingsLW
(NYSE: LW) is a packaged foods company headquartered in Eagle, Idaho. The product line is heavily potato-oriented with “classic fries,” “extra crispy fries,” and various sweet potato offerings delivered in the United States, Canada and worldwide.

Market capitalization is $14.37 billion and the stock is trading with a price-earnings ratio of 30.68.

Over the last year, earnings per share dropped by 36.30% and the past 5-year EPS shows a slippage of 9.10%. The company’s long-term debt is more than 4 times shareholder equity, possibly a concern for value investors. Average daily volume is active at 1.50 million shares.

Here’s the daily price chart for Lamb Weston Holdings:

Not investment advice. For educational purposes only.