Del Monte Foods Company (NYSE:DLM)

1. More people are preparing food at home. DM is a classic brand name, I think people would choose this over a generic/store brand or higher priced premium brand.

2. Shipping costs are down.

3. Could see a breakout if it passes 200 day MA

Margins on Del Monte products were helped by price increases put through to offset soaring commodity costs over the last year. Now that prices for many ingredients have fallen, the benefit of keeping prices high is even greater.

Meanwhile. store brands are gaining market share because they were quick to pass cost savings on to their customers.

Time to accumulate.

Del Monte Foods? Go out into your pantry and look at the canned goods. Dimes to doughnuts you've got some of their products. Times may be hard, (Jan 09), but folks gotta eat. There's nothing spectacular here, but DLM is a safe bet in shaky times.

30% of there product is sold in Wal-Mart. With everybody flooding to Wally World to shop, Del Monte is in a good place.

Good solid small cap. Higher prices may hurt them . I don't want this one when I can have Kraft. or BGS

people never stop eating in a econo slowdown

Another stock that is a good deal right now. A well established company with a long history; providing a product that will always be needed.

PEOPLE WILL BUY FOOD AND PET FOOD

stable company , trading near a 52 week low , we have to eat ....

delmonte is headid for on the best path it could they selling pet food cheap friut snacks and a currently opening a new industrial shipping building they in my opinion going to be a good company in the future

Del Monte Foods has a lot of foods that don't seem to get E-Coli..granted they do make some dog and cat foods also, but although the fish market has been targeted for mercury....tuna is just so good and I do love my starkist and crackers...then there is the Cantadina, Nabisco and who can forget their Heinz catsup..especially with Memorial Day coming, the 4th of July and Labor Day

DLM has proven they can manage the company's stable of brands most effectively. The excellent management helps allay my fears regarding the large debt load. Coverage is adequate. DLM has been able to offset higher materials with price increases that are sticking. As consumers shun generics, based in large part on fears of inferior and even dangerous ingredients (thank you China), branded products will continue to sell well through the recession. DLM is well positioned to take advantage.

Great company

recession coming see Kahuna,CFA

Strictly a technical trade. I would think it will go to at least $11 in a few months or less assuming economy doesn't get seriously worse.

delmonte

Del Monte Foods Company is in the business of producing, distributing and marketing of premium quality, branded and private label food and pet products for the U.S. retail market. The company markets its food products under brand names like Del Monte, StarKist, Contadina, and College Inn, while pet food and pet snacks brands include 9Lives, Pup-Peroni, Snausages, and Pounce. The company generates 63% of its revenue from consumer products while the rest comes from pet products.

Pet food is the largest segment of the pet product industry forming 42% of the total market and dog food, cat food and treats are the largest volume categories comprising 40% of the market. Today, about 63% of United States households own a pet. With changing lifestyles, American spending on pets is expected to grow in future. This goes well with the Del Monte, which acquired Meow Mix (Cat Food producer) and Milk-Bone (Dog food producer) and boosted the growth of Pet products segment by 56.6% and thereby made overall top-line growth respectable. But the company has to face stiff competition from well-established players like PetSmart.

Packaged food industry in which the company operates has been impacted by two key trends affecting their retail customers: consolidation and increased competitive pressures. The worst being that the company is being negatively impacted by this trend, which is clearly being reflected in its decline in food products volume. Moreover the margins are coming under pressure due to increased steel, energy, logistics, and other transportation related cost.

Concerns like dismal performance in its major revenue generating consumer products segment and margins being pressurized by inflation, it should better for investors to stay away from Del Monte Foods.

This food stock is on the bottom shelves in terms of street + investor attention. Near dead volatility with intra-day (and sometimes intra-week) price movements of less than 20 cents. However, turnaround underway + recently broke $11. (Disc: I don't own DLM, because volatility is too low. But if I had extra money, I'd probably throw some into DLM's cart for portfolio balancing + hedge a stock market fall, which I think could happen. A very safe, but potentially snail-slow outperform.)