United Natural Foods,Inc. (UNFI)

Health, its where its at. Have you noticed lately that the grocery store shelves are filled with products advertising how "clean" they are and how few additives they have. People want natural products.

ex-employee

Jumped down. Hoping it corrects back up.

Very happy with its growth pattern and I think they will remain on top for quite a while!

This portfolio tracks the performance of good companies vs. evil companies.

Organics keep pesticides out of our food chain = Good.

Everyone thinks that because Whole Foods is failing that natural foods are on a down slide. The truth is that more and more people make the switch to naturals and organics every time there is a food scare. So why is Whole Foods failing? Because they are overpriced, and every one of the "conventional" grocers that were never competitors before are now carrying what they once had a monopoly on.
Where does everyone else get the product from? UNFI
The more Whole Foods declines, the more customers are switching over, and the more business UNFI gains.

This stock was picked by TMFBiarritz in the 2008 TMF Stockpicking Contest.

This is a tough time for companies that rely on somewhat discretionary spending (organic food vs. conventional). Also, UNFI underestimated the costs of assimilating Millbrook. However, UNFI is the leader in organic food distribution, and the organic food movement will not go away. Every time there's a mad cow disease scare or a new study comes out on the dangers of pesticides, more people move to organics and realize they TASTE better too. The management team sounded confident on the recent conference call, and they have a prudent plan in place for continuing to grow the company through early acquisitions of emerging brands, with solid infrastructure already in place. From that perspective, UNFI is trading at a substantial discount today.

The current trend for natural and organic products has hit the shelves of major grocery chains. This will put pressure on smaller chains who won't be able to compete with prices and companies like this will likely shrink back to the smaller niche market of hard to find or rarely used organic foods. As the economy tightens, consumers will be more likely to sacrifice some quality to allow for smaller grocery budgets.

If you don´t believe in fundamentals (you should!!) then technically, it has to fill the gap it left behind.

THUS, play it now at 19 and sell at 27, that´s not a bad 30%. Will pay you an un-healthy lunch at a burger chain, the least!

I've rooted around on this one. My customers who use UNFI (they have only two choices, but really only one, that being UNFI) tell me that they are not the nice easy going company that they used to be. UNFI has learned how to make money and these natural foods types aren't happy about it.

So here you have a stock selling at the same price it was selling for in 2002. Do we presume they've built no value in five years? They've added some debt, but not too much. They have a moat about as wide as the Pacific and twice as deep. Unless there is something invisible, this one is a no-brainer. Geez...I'll take a truckload of that action.

natural/organic food distributor

I think the sell off is over done. This company has always had a hard time digesting new companies, but then goes on to deliver food in a still fast growing business, and make money doing so.

United Natural Foods, Inc. distributes natural and organic foods, and related products in the United States. Key word: Organic and Trend.

The fundamentals of this company are strong. Insiders own 7% of oustanding shares. While growth of this company is not outstanding, it is growing at reasonable rates and should make for less votality in the growth of this company going forward.

Mentioned in Volume 28, Number 17 - September 1, 2007

United Natural Foods (UNFI) is the largest supplier of organic and natural foods in the US and is the leading supplier to Whole Foods Market (WFMI) the largest organic foods grocer. Demand for natural and organic foods is surging as WFMI grows rapidy and traditional grocers such as Kroger (KR), Safeway (SWY), and Wal-Mart (WMT) increase their organic foods offerings. Eventually this demand for organic foods will spur the earnings of UNFI.

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undervalued at today's prices