Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : Speculating in Takeover Targets -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: richardred who wrote (5889)	2/26/2020 10:07:24 AM
From: E_K_S	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 7242

re: BGS Yes just did that calculation on annual earnings $1.70 vs annual div $1.90. It did reflect some ROC (Return Of Capital) and FCF does cover that div. Wonder if there may be larger companies/ Private Equity looking at BGS (selling at BV) and believe sum of the parts may yield more to break up. PE could finance w/ such low rates and FCF pays the leverage w/ good returns on capital invested. BGS needs to trade North of $30/share to reflect a 6% div which is the market rate (when you look at some of the other food companies). FWIW made small Buy yesterday at $12.87/share. Needed to Buy 10x as much but better safe than sorry. Still holding 35% cash. Made a small add in M, UNFI and WMB yesterday too. EKS

To: richardred who wrote (5889)	2/28/2020 7:13:55 PM
From: E_K_S	1 Recommendation Recommended By richardred Respond to of 7242

From Investor Village Post Re: B&G Foods Up Nearly 21%, on Pace for Largest Percent Increase Since April 2016 -- Data Talk Right. From the conference call... We expect Green Giant growth to be driven further by the acquisition of Farmwise, which we just announced last Wednesday. Farmwise is a small but very prolific, forward-thinking frozen veggie brand that will allow us to quickly commercialize products from their innovation pipeline and introduce them under the Green Giant brand in the traditional food channel and under the Farmwise name in the natural channel where the Green Giant brand is in a good fit. We are very excited about this small acquisition with quick scale-up capability and a good example of what I meant when I said it’s a new era at B&G. Also, Romanzi addressed the share price issue So stepping back, the elephant in the room and the question everybody asking is, why is our stock so low? While in my first year as CEO, I have listened to many investors, debt holders, bankers and advisers, and there are clearly three large issues depressing our stock over the last year. First, there’s been concern that after two years of disappointing investors with fourth quarter earnings results, we were disappointed again in 2019, given the large increase we needed in Q4 to hit our guidance. And more recently, our stock has been under greater pressure due to concerns over fourth quarter Nielsen consumption trends. Second, there is an investor fear that we’ll cut our dividend driven by our high yield and concern that we don’t generate enough free cash flow to cover it. And third, our leverage is too high at 6.1 times pro forma adjusted EBITDA before share-based compensation to net debt, hampering our ability to continue our long-term successful strategy of growth through accretive acquisitions. So, I’d like to address each and every one of these issues. First, I hope our fourth quarter and full year 2019 earnings announcement shows we can get back to growth through accretive acquisitions and deliver what we say we will deliver. And while our volumes were on the low side of our expectations in the fourth quarter, pricing was on the high side. This is always a delicate balance, and we’ll continue to balance these two important levers as we move forward. So while we are not declaring victory yet, we see 2019 as the first year of many in improved expected performance. Second, we have no plans to cut the dividend under our current operating model and assumptions. We continue to believe in the dividend because that is the vehicle upon which this company was built. We also believe that under normal operating conditions, we generate enough cash flow to cover the dividend. However, as you’ll see from our net cash from operations in 2019 and as Bruce will discuss in more detail, we had several onetime uses of cash in 2019, including a very sizable tax bill related to a gain on sale from the sale of Pirate Brands, share repurchases and investments in working capital that increased our debt. But we do not see these same uses of cash continuing in 2020, and Bruce will share our cash flow plan that should give you the confidence in our dividend as we. Lastly, we understand investor concern over our debt leverage. We are committed to create excess cash flow to help reduce leverage. Later, Bruce will share our plan to get our leverage below six times in our 2020 plan. In addition, we do not believe we’re shut out of acquiring more businesses. The M&A pipeline is active, and we believe opportunities remain to acquire businesses without increasing leverage and that, in some cases, may actually help reduce leverage.

To: richardred who wrote (5889)	10/27/2020 1:11:17 PM
From: E_K_S	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 7242

Smucker to sell Crisco unit to B&G Foods in $550M deal Oct. 26, 2020 5:49 PM ET\|About: The J. M. Smucker Company (SJM)\|By: Carl Surran, SA News Editor J.M. Smucker (NYSE: SJM) agrees to sell its Crisco oils and shortening business, including dedicated manufacturing and warehouse facilities located in Cincinnati, Ohio, to B&G Foods (NYSE: BGS) for $550M in cash. BGS +6.1%, SJM +2% after-hours. The business generated $270M in net sales for Smuckers' FY 2020 ended April 30. Smucker says the Crisco divestiture aligns with its plan to exit the U.S. baking category and focus more of its resources on its core growth platforms of pet food, coffee and snacking. The company expects the divestiture to be dilutive to full-year adjusted earnings by $0.45-$0.55/share, reflecting the foregone profit related to the oils and shortening business. In a bullish analysis on B&G Foods posted earlier today on Seeking Alpha, Carles Diaz Caron cites rapidly rising sales and declining net debt as well as a safe dividend.