Tuesday, March 23, 2010

Feed your portfolio with Conagra - CAG

On Financial Tides I look for the stocks that are moving now on Barchart then use a disciplined screening process to decide what to buy. Today my screening has found Conagra Foods - CAG.

From their press release: "ConAgra Foods has transformed itself into an industry-leading, branded, and value-added food company. ConAgra Foods recently announced its realignment from three operating channels to two, with the previous ConAgra Foodservice merging with ConAgra Food Ingredients to form ConAgra Foods Commercial Products. These two primary business segments, Consumer Foods and Commercial Products, make us the right kind of food company to satisfy the needs of customers and consumers." That's their hype what are the facts?

The stock has hit new highs on 16 of the last 2o trading sessions and is 4 for 5 recently. Over the last 30 days the price is up 7.26%. 11 of 13 of the Barchart technical indicators signal buy for an 80% Barchart buy rating.

The stock has a large Wall Street following with 4 buy, 7 hold and no sell recommendations. Sales are estimated to be down 1.9% this year but are expected to be up 3.0% next year. Earnings look more promising and are estimated to be up 15.1% this year, 9.7% next year and maintain a 5 year compounded EPS growth of 11.7 in the future.

Investor sentiment over on Motley Fool is high with the CAPS members thinking the stock will out perform the market by a vote of 552 to 67 with the All Stars in agreement 193 to 11. The Wall Street columnists Fool follows are also positive 6 to 0.

What does CAG have going for it?:
  • Positive and consistent price momentum
  • A Wall Street following looking for increased sales and earnings
  • Positive investor sentiment

The stock can be purchased around 26.41 and has a 50 day moving average of 24.

Before you think about adding to your portfolio always do your own due diligence and see if it agrees with your investment parameters.

Jim Van Meerten is an investor who uses Barchart tools and writes about financial matters here and on Financial Tides. Please leave a comment below or email JimVanMeerten@gmail.com.

Disclosure: I hold no position in CAG at the time of publication.

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