Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company (WWY)

icesword2 (< 20) Submitted: 6/12/08 2:15 AM : Start Price: $76.75 WWY Score: 12.86

Just by scouring the information available on the free sections of www.fool.com, I've learned a TON about investing strategy, and everything I've learned has led me to this one Fool-ish pick: Wrigley (WWY).

It started one day at work when I was staring at the options in the break-room vending machine. I only had 55c in my pocket and I needed something sweet. I looked all around and decided my best bet was a pack of Lifesavers for 50c. It was the cheapest thing in the machine, and it was exactly what I needed. I decided to check who might still be making Lifesavers after all this time and how their business is doing. They're doing great! Even while the general market is down for the year, the price of WWY has grown over 30%. That makes their "Fool Ratio" (P/E divided by estimated earnings growth) a little high right now, but all the standard business metrics have them outperforming the industry at large. Most importantly for long-term market domination: their free cash flow per share is a positive number. It's not a big number, but the industry average is negative, so they kill in their ability to take in revenue and hold on to it. They also pay a dividend, which makes their price-to-earnings ratio look a little better.

My guess is that the recent spike in price will meet a downward correcting force in the short term, but the long term benefits of holding onto a beloved American brand should easily outweigh any near-term wiggles.

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