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What are we looking for?

Large-cap U.S. consumer staples stocks providing safety and value in a declining market.

October and November have been challenging months for U.S. equity investors as the major indexes have declined sharply from their highs. Since early October, the S&P 500 index is off 9 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite Index is off more than 14 per cent. According to Bloomberg, all market sectors are down over the past three months, with the exception of utilities and consumer staples.

The screen

We will be using Trading Central Strategy Builder to search for consumer staples stocks that have reasonable valuations and offer safety in light of recent market volatility. We start by screening for stocks with a market capitalization of US$10-billion or more. We wish to focus on U.S. corporate giants with consistent revenue and stable long-term businesses.

Next, we search for stocks that have reasonable valuations. We will filter and include only stocks with trailing price-to-earnings ratios of 25 or less based on the most recent sell-off. As a further valuation check, we will include only stocks with price-to-book ratios of 5 or less. These two valuation criteria eliminate roughly 75 per cent of consumer staples stocks.

To find stocks with profitable and efficient operations, we will include only stocks with return on equity of at least 10 per cent each year. ROE is a measure of how efficient a company is at putting invested capital to work.

Finally, to ensure we get paid while our investments appreciate, we will also include only stocks with dividend yields of 1.5 per cent or more.

More about Trading Central

Trading Central is a global leader in financial market research and investment analytics for retail online brokers and institutions. Trading Central’s product suite provides actionable trading ideas based on technical and fundamental research covering stocks, ETFs, indexes, forex, options and commodities.

What we found

Topping our list is prepared food giant Kraft Heinz Co. The company looks very inexpensive with a trailing P/E of 6 and P/B ratio of 0.9. This low valuation is in part because of the stock’s decline of roughly 38 per cent from its 52-week high set last December. The stock’s resulting dividend yield of 4.7 per cent is also the highest on our list.

The highest return-on-equity belongs to Keurig Dr. Pepper Inc. at 46.9 per cent. This Texas-based conglomerate was previously Keurig Green Mountain until it acquired Dr. Pepper Snapple in July. In the past quarter, the company has added 14 per cent to its stock price and now offers a 2.2-per-cent dividend yield.

Consumer products giant Procter & Gamble Co. has the highest market cap in our list, in excess of US$229-billion. P&G is a defensive stalwart and has a long track record of growing dividends. In spite of the recent market downdraft, P&G stock has added 9 per cent over the preceding quarter.

The investment ideas presented here are for information only. They do not constitute advice or a recommendation by Trading Central in respect of the investment in financial instruments. Investors should conduct further research before investing.

Select consumer-staples stalwarts

Rank Company Ticker Market Cap. (US$Mil) Recent Close (US$) Price/Earnings Ratio (TTM) Price/Book Ratio Return on Equity (%) Div. Yield (%) 1Yr Return (%)
1 Kraft Heinz Co. KHC-Q 62,118 51.16 6.0 0.9 17.8 4.7 -36.0
2 Keurig Dr. Pepper Inc. KDP-N 36,538 26.16 5.1 1.9 46.9 2.2 N/A
3 J.M. Smucker Co. SJM-N 12,771 109.99 9.3 1.6 18.1 3.1 -2.4
4 Tyson Foods Inc. TSN-N 21,064 58.91 7.3 1.6 25.9 1.9 -26.0
5 General Mills Inc. GIS-N 26,341 43.31 12.0 4.3 40.7 4.5 -19.0
6 Conagra Brands Inc. CAG-N 16,137 32.89 15.9 3.5 20.7 2.4 -7.4
7 Procter & Gamble Co. PG-N 229,459 91.41 23.9 4.5 18.1 3.1 3.5

Source: Trading Central

Peter Ashton is vice-president of customer success at Trading Central.

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Tickers mentioned in this story

Study and track financial data on any traded entity: click to open the full quote page. Data updated as of 28/03/24 4:00pm EDT.

SymbolName% changeLast
KHC-Q
Kraft Heinz Company
+1.01%36.9
SJM-N
J.M. Smucker Company
+0.12%125.87
TSN-N
Tyson Foods
-0.14%58.73
GIS-N
General Mills
+0.45%69.97
CAG-N
Conagra Brands Inc
+0.51%29.64
PG-N
Procter & Gamble Company
-0.22%162.25

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