Top 10 Food Companies To Invest In Right Now

Top 10 Food Companies To Invest In Right Now: Safeway Inc.(SWY)

Safeway Inc., together with its subsidiaries, operates as a food and drug retailer in North America. The company operates stores that provide an array of grocery items, food, and general merchandise, as well as features specialty departments, such as bakery, delicatessen, floral, and pharmacy, as well as coffee shops and fuel centers. It also offers SELECT line of products that include baked goods, sparkling ciders and lemonades, salsas, whole bean coffees, frozen pizzas and entrees, and fresh and dry pastas and sauces, as well as an array of ice creams, hors d'oeuvres, and desserts; O ORGANICS line, which comprises milk, chicken, salads, juices, and entrees; Lucerne line of dairy products; Eating Right line of better-for-you products; Bright Green line of home care products; Total Pet Care line of pet foods and pet care products; and Value Red line of value-priced paper goods. As of December 31, 2009, Safeway operated approximately 1,725 stores in California, Oregon, Wash ington, Alaska, Colorado, Arizona, Texas, the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Mid-Atlantic region, as well as British Columbia, Alberta and Manitoba/Saskatchewan. In addition, the company owns and operates GroceryWorks.com Operating Company, LLC, an online grocery channel, doing business under the names Safeway.com, Vons.com, and Genuardis.com; and Blackhawk Network Holdings, Inc., which provides third-party gift cards, prepaid cards, telecom cards, and sports and entertainment cards to North American retailers for sale to retail customers. Additionally, it engages in gift card businesses in the United Kingdom, France, Mexico, and Australia. Further, the company, through a 49% ownership interest in Casa Ley, S.A. de C.V. operates 156 food and general merchandise stores in Western Mexico. The company was formerly known as Safeway Stores, Incorporated and changed its! name to Safeway Inc. in February 1990. Safeway was founded in 1915 and is based in Pleasanton, California. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Burrows]

  Once again, that leaves KR stock vulnerable on valuation, with shares fetching a 24% premium to their own five-year average by forward earnings, according to Thomson Reuters Stock Reports. At the same time, operationally, everyone is gunning for KR. Private equity firm Cerberus is buying Safeway (SWY) and already owns Albertsons. That’s a formidable rival. And Whole Foods (WFM) is rethinking prices after a poor quarterly showing.

• [By Charles Sizemore]

  No, or at least not yet. The macro trends are durable and real; of this I have little doubt. But it comes back to the economics of the grocery business. Mainstream grocers have not sat idly while the Whole Foods and Trader Joes of the world have poached their customers. Safeway (SWY), Kroger (KR) and even Walmart have expanded their premium and organic offerings in recent years. And while premium grocers can charge more for their products, this ability has limits. Grocery shoppers tend to be a demanding and fickle lot.

• [By Charles Sizemore]

  Supermarket giants Albertsons and Safeway (SWY) made news last week by agreeing to merge, creating a combined company that will fall just shy of Kroger (KR) in terms of store count. Cerberus Capital, the private equity firm that owns Albertsons, has offered to pay $40 per share for Safeway.

• [By abirk]

  Further, to strengthen its foothold, recently, Kroger approached Safeway Inc. (SWY), the second-largest grocery store chain in the U.S., about acquiring some of that company's operations.

source from Top Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksblog.com/top-10-food-companies-to-invest-in-right-now.html