Campbell Soup Company (CPB)

mistermanguy (26.56) Submitted: 10/6/2009 9:02:01 PM : Start Price: $32.21 CPB Score: -4.04

SOUP!!

joshbk (58.48) Submitted: 8/29/2009 12:30:23 PM : Start Price: $30.94 CPB Score: -4.99

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.

memoandstitch (36.64) Submitted: 8/4/2009 10:44:52 PM : Start Price: $30.97 CPB Score: -3.18

fool

yxxtrent (41.83) Submitted: 10/31/2008 9:50:35 PM : Start Price: $34.24 CPB Score: -25.78

The only reason my underperform pitch is losing is the "flight to safety". Yes it's a big name. Noone's going to stop eating campbell's soup. But as an investment, a money making machine for the owners how is it? Price to book value- poor, PEG ratio-poor, price to cash flow-horrible. Three strikes it's out. When people stop being so scared they'll move their money to businesses that are better investments and this'll underperform the S&P.

killthebear (85.89) Submitted: 10/9/2008 2:01:07 AM : Start Price: $37.26 CPB Score: +19.77

way too high, should be a buy around 30

EviLucius (33.20) Submitted: 5/19/2008 2:37:04 PM : Start Price: $32.46 CPB Score: -28.22

Bad news for campbell with lower earnings this quarter. Underperform call on this one.

67plus (47.93) Submitted: 12/18/2007 9:04:18 AM : Start Price: $33.99 CPB Score: -24.22

i own, steady

brooklyncodger (86.56) Submitted: 12/19/2006 12:54:01 PM : Start Price: $36.58 CPB Score: -13.03

Too high a P/E for this industry. Comfort foods competition keeps on growing. Look for the flu season especially to show the competitor's edge.