In this article, we will take a look at the 13 best food stocks to buy Now. To see more such companies, go directly to 5 Best Food Stocks To Buy Now.
The food industry remains in the spotlight as investors flock to stocks that remain resilient in the current inflation storm. Essential food companies are in a situation to relay rising prices to consumers. Food items are usually the last to see decline in consumer spending. However, not all companies in the food sector are totally safe from the current market dynamics. Cowen’s analyst Robert Moskow recently said that some food companies are in early stages of an upcoming cyclical decline amid weakening elasticity of demand from supply chain normalization, the risk of price discounting, and margin pressures.
However, the analyst said that in the current scenario, he’s tilting towards some top quality food companies that sell “must have” brands. He also likes these companies because of their pricing power. These companies include Mondelez International (NASDAQ:MDLZ), J.M. Smucker (NYSE:SJM), Hershey (NYSE:HSY), Utz Brands (UTZ), and Lamb Weston (LW).
For this article we decided use a broader definition of the food sector and also expanded our scope to the beverage sector. We first listed down all holdings of the First Trust Nasdaq Food & Beverage ETF (FTXG). We then gauged hedge fund sentiment for all holdings of the ETF and then selected 13 stocks with the highest number of hedge fund investors.
Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (NASDAQ:KDP) ranks 13th in our list of the best food stocks to buy now according to hedge funds. As of the end of the second quarter of 2023, 40 hedge funds in Insider Monkey’s database of 910 hedge funds had stakes in Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. (NASDAQ:KDP). The biggest stakeholder of the company during this period was Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group which owns a $188 million stake in the company.
Earlier in September the company upped its quarterly dividend by a whopping 7.5%.
Beverage giant Molson Coors Beverage Company (NYSE:TAP) is one of the best food stocks to buy now according to smart money investors. Insider Monkey’s database of 910 hedge funds shows that 40 hedge funds had stakes in the company as of the end of the second quarter of 2023. The biggest hedge fund stakeholder of the firm during this period was Ken Griffin’s Citadel Investment Group which owns a $245 million stake in the company.
Molson Coors Beverage Company (NYSE:TAP) recently said it would buy bourbon and rye whiskies maker Blue Run Spirits for an undisclosed amount.
Beverage company Celsius Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CELH) is one of the best food and beverage stocks to buy according to hedge funds. Insider Monkey’s database of 910 hedge funds shows that 41 hedge funds had stakes in the firm as of the end of the second quarter. The most significant stake held in Celsius Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CELH) belonged to Paul Marshall and Ian Wace’s Marshall Wace LLP which owns a $199 million stake in the company.
Celsius Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CELH) shares jumped in August after the company posted spectacular second quarter results. Revenue in the quarter jumped about 11% year over year to $326 million.
Carillon Tower Advisers made the following comment about Celsius Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CELH) in its Q3 2022 investor letter:
“Celsius Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:CELH) develops, markets, sells, and distributes functional fitness and lifestyle beverages. The company’s shares outperformed in the period as it was announced that a major global soft drink company would take a minority ownership stake in the company in a deal that also would involve a strategic distribution agreement. In addition, Celsius reported a strong quarter, and it continues to gain market share in the energy drink category.”
One of the biggest chocolate makers, Hershey Co (NYSE:HS) is a dividend-paying stock with a yield of over 2%. In July Hershey Co (NYSE:HS) upped its dividend by 15%. The company’s organic sales in the quarter jumped 5% on a constant currency basis. The company also upped its full-year profit guidance.
Out of the 910 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 43 hedge funds reported owning stakes in the company.
One of the biggest retailers in the US, The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR) has upped its dividend for about 17 years now. Out of the 910 hedge funds tracked by Insider Monkey, 43 hedge funds had stakes in The Kroger Co. (NYSE:KR). The biggest stakeholder of the firm during this period was Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway which owns a $2.4 billion stake in the company.
The company’s management talked about the rising inflation and its effects on consumers and business in a latest earnings call:
“… This inflation is occurring at a greater rate in 2023 than we originally anticipated and our customers are continuing to feel the effects of macroeconomic conditions. For these reasons, we believe the remainder of the year will continue to present challenges to navigate and we expect identical sales without fuel will now be at the low end of our full year guidance range of 1% to 2%. We would expect identical sales without fuel to be slightly negative in the second half of the year. As a reminder, this guidance reflects the effect of Express Scripts, which is reducing our reported identical sales without fuel by approximately 150 basis points in 2023.
Monster Beverage Corp (NASDAQ:MNST) shares have gained about 4% year to date through September 30. Insider Monkey’s database of 910 hedge funds shows that 44 hedge funds had stakes in the company. The most significant stakeholder of the company was Neal C. Bradsher’s Broadwood Capital which owns a $535 million stake in the company.
Piper Sandler in August upgraded MNST to Overweight from Neutral and increased its price target to $63 from $60. Piper Sandler said the following about the stock in a note:
“When we initiated coverage roughly two months ago, valuation was our only real hesitation, and we now consider the risk/reward to be more attractive. Its 2Q23 results were below expectations, but there is nothing concerning about the business or its near and long-term momentum.”
Frozen fries company Lamb Weston Holdings Inc (NYSE:LW) ranks 7th in our list of the best food stocks to buy now. Insider Monkey’s database of 910 hedge funds shows that 47 hedge funds were long Lamb Weston Holdings Inc (NYSE:LW) as of the end of the second quarter of 2023. The most significant stakeholder of the company was Sharlyn C. Heslam’s Stockbridge Partners which owns a $345 million stake in the company.
Hedgeye added Lamb Weston Holdings Inc (NYSE:LW) as a long idea after the company’s fiscal Q4 results announced in July. Hedgeye said that french fries are the highest margin restaurant products. The firm said that the pullback in Lamb Weston Holdings Inc (NYSE:LW) shares after the fiscal Q4 results were a buying opportunity.
Consumer foods company General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) ranks 6th in our list of the best food stocks to buy now according to hedge funds. General Mills recently posted fiscal Q1’2024 results. Higher prices in the period offset lower volumes. Revenue in the period jumped 4% year-over-year to $4.9 billion.
General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS) management talked about industry trends and the factors driving food-at-home demand during the company’s latest earnings call:
“What has changed is that we’ve seen a reversion back to people being mobile and more education and healthcare and hotels and lodging and that sort of thing, which I think is logical. In fact, if you look at the movement data through airports, it’s up year-over-year. Now it’s only back to pre-pandemic levels, but it’s quite a bit year-over-year. So that would kind of corroborate that thinking. So that’s the second reason. And the third is, there’s probably as we’ve seen another kind of recession — we’re at a consumer recessionary period, even though technically we’re not in a recession, consumer behavior trying to economize, and so that may be going into smaller sizes and things like that, which in the very short-term, [detox] (ph) a pantry, but people aren’t eating less, and we don’t anticipate that they will eat less.
