Campbell Soup Company (CPB)

If you've ever bought low sodium canned soup - either on purpose or by accident - then you should be skeptical of this stock.

CPB has been redoubling such efforts to lower sodium content in all of their soups (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/17/AR2009081700839.html). They've been working at this for some time, and their results are hitting the shelves. The dangerous part, however, is that they are not just releasing new products or improving health/low sodium options; they are tinkering with their classic soups as well, going so far as to half their sodium contents while keeping the same classic soup can label.

Their efforts to release healthier soups are certainly laudable, & maybe rewarded by good publicity & health conscious customers (although personally I think that the dangers of sodium are over-hyped, see http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/07/science/07tier.html?_r=3&ref=science). But either way, they're taking a risk: They're taking a classic brand, completely reformulating the product, & in many cases are not even changing the front label. They're unnecessarily risking their entire brand, not just select healthy option soups.

Such dramatic decreases in sodium may look good on paper, but they taste terrible in your mouth.