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The Kraft Heinz (KHC) Gains on Solid Operating Model, High Demand
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The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC - Free Report) appears well placed, courtesy of strength in its operating model and efficiency building plans. Moreover, the company is witnessing higher consumer demand, stemming from escalated at-home consumption amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Let’s delve deeper.
Factors Working in The Kraft Heinz’s Favor
The Kraft Heinz is committed to its operating model, which was laid out last year. The model incorporates five key elements — People with Purpose, Consumer Platforms, Ops Center, Partner Program and Fuel Our Growth. In its last earnings call, management highlighted that within consumer platform, the company’s top-priority Grow portfolio increased 15% in retail channels along with acceleration of growth in emerging markets. Ops Center element will enable The Kraft Heinz to establish an efficient, fast and integrated supply chain network. Notably, the company achieved nearly $400 million of gross productivity efficiencies during 2020. Moreover, Partner Program element is designed to create solid customer partnerships and develop new strategic partnerships.
Lastly, the Fuel Our Growth strategy will enable the company to invest in growth opportunities, solidify its long-term market position as well as boost shareholders’ returns. Also, this strategy will help the company manage its portfolio and accelerate its strategic plan, augment geographic presence, increase focus on growth areas as well as undertake sustainable pricing actions.
In terms of cost savings, The Kraft Heinz is increasing visibility and control of its cost components. It has also been keeping a close watch on investments made for enhancing sales and customer services. Further, the company is on track with examining its SKUs to remove complexities and boost mix. In this regard, the company’s Ops Center platform drove efficiency gains via simplification and waste reduction. Notably, The Kraft Heinz benefited from simplifying its assortment and improving capacity through a 16% reduction in SKUs during 2020. In fact, management is on track to reduce SKU further in 2021.
Pandemic-Induced High Demand
The Kraft Heinz is witnessing rising demand for its products thanks to the coronavirus-led higher at-home consumption. In fact, burgeoning demand amid the pandemic bolstered the company’s fourth-quarter 2020 results. The top and the bottom line surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate and increased year over year. Organic net sales rose 6% on the back of sustained growth momentum in retail business and favorable pricing. It was somewhat offset by softness in foodservice. Further, volume/mix increased 1.2 percentage points thanks to continued at-home consumption growth partly stemming from the pandemic.
Is all Rosy for The Kraft Heinz?
The Kraft Heinz is witnessing rise in selling, general and administrative expenses, excluding impairment losses for a while. Notably, the metric increased from $837 million reported in the year-ago quarter to $973 million during the fourth quarter of 2020. Additionally, the company is incurring increased supply chain costs, including pandemic-induced expenses, higher incentive compensation as well as significant investments in marketing and sales. Apart from this, sales in The Kraft Heinz’s Canada segment is declining year over year since the past few quarters. During the fourth quarter, net sales of $447 million declined 2% in the segment, while volume/mix fell 11 percentage points.
That being said, we believe that the aforementioned upsides are likely to help this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company stay afloat amid such hurdles. The Kraft Heinz’s shares have increased 17.7% in the past three months compared with the industry’s growth of 6.9%.
United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI - Free Report) — currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 — has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 13.6%, on average.
The J. M. Smucker Company (SJM - Free Report) , currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2, has a long-term earnings growth rate of 1.7%.
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The Kraft Heinz (KHC) Gains on Solid Operating Model, High Demand
The Kraft Heinz Company (KHC - Free Report) appears well placed, courtesy of strength in its operating model and efficiency building plans. Moreover, the company is witnessing higher consumer demand, stemming from escalated at-home consumption amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Let’s delve deeper.
Factors Working in The Kraft Heinz’s Favor
The Kraft Heinz is committed to its operating model, which was laid out last year. The model incorporates five key elements — People with Purpose, Consumer Platforms, Ops Center, Partner Program and Fuel Our Growth. In its last earnings call, management highlighted that within consumer platform, the company’s top-priority Grow portfolio increased 15% in retail channels along with acceleration of growth in emerging markets. Ops Center element will enable The Kraft Heinz to establish an efficient, fast and integrated supply chain network. Notably, the company achieved nearly $400 million of gross productivity efficiencies during 2020. Moreover, Partner Program element is designed to create solid customer partnerships and develop new strategic partnerships.
Lastly, the Fuel Our Growth strategy will enable the company to invest in growth opportunities, solidify its long-term market position as well as boost shareholders’ returns. Also, this strategy will help the company manage its portfolio and accelerate its strategic plan, augment geographic presence, increase focus on growth areas as well as undertake sustainable pricing actions.
In terms of cost savings, The Kraft Heinz is increasing visibility and control of its cost components. It has also been keeping a close watch on investments made for enhancing sales and customer services. Further, the company is on track with examining its SKUs to remove complexities and boost mix. In this regard, the company’s Ops Center platform drove efficiency gains via simplification and waste reduction. Notably, The Kraft Heinz benefited from simplifying its assortment and improving capacity through a 16% reduction in SKUs during 2020. In fact, management is on track to reduce SKU further in 2021.
Pandemic-Induced High Demand
The Kraft Heinz is witnessing rising demand for its products thanks to the coronavirus-led higher at-home consumption. In fact, burgeoning demand amid the pandemic bolstered the company’s fourth-quarter 2020 results. The top and the bottom line surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate and increased year over year. Organic net sales rose 6% on the back of sustained growth momentum in retail business and favorable pricing. It was somewhat offset by softness in foodservice. Further, volume/mix increased 1.2 percentage points thanks to continued at-home consumption growth partly stemming from the pandemic.
Is all Rosy for The Kraft Heinz?
The Kraft Heinz is witnessing rise in selling, general and administrative expenses, excluding impairment losses for a while. Notably, the metric increased from $837 million reported in the year-ago quarter to $973 million during the fourth quarter of 2020. Additionally, the company is incurring increased supply chain costs, including pandemic-induced expenses, higher incentive compensation as well as significant investments in marketing and sales. Apart from this, sales in The Kraft Heinz’s Canada segment is declining year over year since the past few quarters. During the fourth quarter, net sales of $447 million declined 2% in the segment, while volume/mix fell 11 percentage points.
That being said, we believe that the aforementioned upsides are likely to help this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company stay afloat amid such hurdles. The Kraft Heinz’s shares have increased 17.7% in the past three months compared with the industry’s growth of 6.9%.
Better-Ranked Food Stocks
The Hain Celestial (HAIN - Free Report) , currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy), has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 26.7%, on average. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
United Natural Foods, Inc. (UNFI - Free Report) — currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2 — has a trailing four-quarter earnings surprise of 13.6%, on average.
The J. M. Smucker Company (SJM - Free Report) , currently carrying a Zacks Rank #2, has a long-term earnings growth rate of 1.7%.
Breakout Biotech Stocks with Triple-Digit Profit Potential
The biotech sector is projected to surge beyond $775 billion by 2024 as scientists develop treatments for thousands of diseases. They’re also finding ways to edit the human genome to literally erase our vulnerability to these diseases.
Zacks has just released Century of Biology: 7 Biotech Stocks to Buy Right Now to help investors profit from 7 stocks poised for outperformance. Our recent biotech recommendations have produced gains of +50%, +83% and +164% in as little as 2 months. The stocks in this report could perform even better.
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