McCormick & Company, Inc. (MKC)

MKC Research

McCormick&Co is McCormick seasonings, Lawry's, Zatarain's, Simply Asia, and many other brands is the world's largest spice company.
Motley Fool CAPS - 4 stars
S&P Quality Rating - A+
P/E - 15 (historically undervalued, as usual p/e varies from high teens at 52 week lows to low twenties for 52 week highs)
Mid Cap with a market cap of $4 billion
Enterprise Value of $5 billion with $991 million in total debt
2.8% dividend yield
Annual $1.04 dividend up from $.38 annual payment 10 years ago
Payout Ratio of 45%
Good gross margin at 41.6%
Acceptable net margin of 8.9%
Nice debt to equity level of 0.66
Trading at 1.5x sales
Excellent 25.1% ROE
Shares outstanding virtually unchanged over the previous 5 years
Revenue growth from $2.5 billion in 2005 to $3.2 billion in 2009
$215 million net income in 2005 to $300 million in 2009

Undoubtably a great investment. Not quite as attractive as a CAPS pick because of the S & P comparison feature. If the S&P rises quickly, MKC might not keep up because it is a relatively conservative stock. But MKC will certainly do well over the long term. At the current price of $35.78, the p/e is about 18 and the yeild just unter 3%.