Premium Brands Holdings Corp (PBH.TO)

(Market Call Minute) He likes it.

A specialty food, manufacturer and distributor. Within Canada, consumer staples may have 15 companies that are investable. Most of them are large, mature, slow growth type of companies. Specialty foods means they can charge higher margins. You get the feeling management is not trying to build an empire and not growing for the sake of growth, but are making decisions that are in the shareholders’ best interests. Dividend yield of 2.88%.

(Top Pick Jun 30/15, Up 73.93%) They did a big acquisition. Sandwiches are popular in the US. They are run by the sandwich kings of BC, Canada. It is healthy’ish kinds of sandwiches made for outlets of all kinds. The company is doing brilliantly. He saw it as a special opportunity. He is going to continue holding them.

This management continues to deliver. Have done some phenomenal things as far as acquisitions go. The real driver in the last little while has been the ready-made sandwiches. They have a big sandwich assembly-line right now, and are trying to grow that out as fast as they can, because it is at close to full capacity. This is a big market right now in the quick service restaurant brand area. The stock is fully valued right now, and portfolio managers are looking to go other places and using this as a source of funds. You might see a bit of chop for the next little while. He still really likes this.

A very well run company. It has been very acquisitive. They effectively integrated their acquisitions. It is now at a multiple of 14 and there is a lot of good news built into it. There is no particular problem with the company, however.

(A Top Pick July 17/15. Up 66.73%.) He still thinks there is opportunity in the food business. This works more in the local convenience stores, etc., distributing sandwiches. They are getting more organic growth and are making their operations. (See Top Picks.)

Food processing and manufacturing facilities in North America. Has been growing through acquisition, but doesn’t think you are at risk of attracting Short sellers. This scores really well on Value for him. Has extremely strong price momentum, decent valuation, and a relatively low volatility stock. Dividend yield of 2.7%.

Does packaged foods, and supplies some of the fast food chains and convenience stores with products. They have an acquisition strategy and have acquired a lot of things. A first-class company in a niche that doesn’t have a lot of direct competition.

Technically there is not a whole lot you can say that is negative about this. The stock is showing some volume now and there is a run on the stock. He would have no reason not to buy the stock.

Doesn’t follow this company, but has checked it out and their last quarter was quite good. Have done a lot of things right over the past little while. Management clearly knows what they are doing. There are a lot of good things going on.

On his list of companies that he really likes better trading at high valuations. Likes it a lot and thinks they are in a great spot to benefit from a lot of the trends that are happening. There are some risks to the name as well. If you own, consider taking some off the table. Feels the balance sheet is over levered at 4X.

Specialty food manufacturer and distributor that sells to retail and food service segments. There is willingness to be up for better quality of food, and this is where this company has experienced its growth. Dividend yield of 4.07%.

He calls them the sandwich kings of Richmond BC. It is a big company now. Revenues are something like $1,250,000,000. They supply to the trade. Have a bit of a health kick to them. This is partly riding on the rising minimum wage situation in the US, causing a lot of outlets to reduce staff. Dividend yield of 4.3%.

Recently went to a Hold on it because of all the talk on food inflation, and it is tough for them to pass costs on to their customers. They may have passed this point, so he is going to have to revisit it. Great business and really well run.

(Top Pick May 29/13, Up 24%) He went to a sell in January because valuations were getting too rich and he was seeing some food inflation. An extremely well run company. As soon as things settle down on the inflation front he would consider buying.