Top 5 Life Sciences Companies To Watch For 2015

Top 5 Life Sciences Companies To Watch For 2015: Kraft Foods Group Inc (KRFT)

Kraft Foods Group, Inc. (Kraft Foods Group), incorporated on March 16, 2012, operates food and beverage businesses in North America. The Company manufactures and markets food and beverage products, including convenient meals, refreshment beverages and coffee, cheese and other grocery products, in the United States and Canada, under a stable of iconic brands. Its product categories span breakfast, lunch and dinner meal occasions, both at home and in foodservice locations. The Company sells its products to supermarket chains, wholesalers, supercenters, club stores, mass merchandisers, distributors, convenience stores, drug stores, gasoline stations, value stores and other retail food outlets in the United States and Canada. On September 14, 2012, the Companys parent company, Kraft Foods Inc. (Kraft ParentCo), issued a press release relating to the anticipated trading markets for Kraft Foods Inc. and Kraft Foods Group, Inc. common stock through the completion of its spin-o ff from Kraft Foods Inc. In October 2012, Mondelez International, Inc. completed the spin-off of North American grocery business, Kraft Foods Group. In June 2013, Kraft Foods Group Inc announced plans to create two new, standalone business units: Meals and Desserts, and Enhancers and Snack Nuts.

The Companys brand portfolio consists of food brands in North America, including three brands: Kraft cheeses, dinners and dressings; Oscar Mayer meats, and Maxwell House coffees- plus over 20 brands. It manufactures and sells food and beverage products in 50 categories. The Company operates in five segments: U.S. Beverages, which manufactures packaged juice drinks, powdered beverages and coffee; U.S. Cheese, which manufactures processed, natural and cream cheeses; U.S. Convenient Meals, which manufactures processed meats and lunch combinations; U.S. Grocery, which manufactures spoonable and pourable dressings, condiments, desserts, packaged di! nners and snack nuts, an d Canada & N.A. Foodservice, which sells products that span ! all of its segments and includes the Canadian and Puerto Rico grocery business, the North American foodservice operations and the North American Grocery Export Business.

U.S. Beverages

During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Companys U.S. Beverages segment contributed 16% of its combined net revenues. This segment manufactures refreshment beverages, including Capri Sun (under license) and Kool-Aid packaged juice drinks, Kool-Aid, Crystal Light and Country Timepowdered beverages and MiO liquid concentrate, and coffee products, including Maxwell House, Gevalia and Yuban coffees, Maxwell House Internationalbeverage mixers and Tassimo (under license) hot beverage system.

U.S. Cheese

During 2011, U.S. Cheese segment had contributed 20% of the Companys combined net revenues. This segment manufactures processed cheese, including Velveeta and Cheez Whiz processed cheeses, Kraft and Deli Deluxe processed cheese slices, K raft grated cheeses and Polly-O and Athenos hummus and cheeses; natural cheese, including Kraft and Cracker Barrel natural cheeses, and cream cheese, including Philadelphia cream cheese and cooking creme.

U.S. Convenient Meals

During 2011, the Companys U.S. Convenient Meals segment contributed 18% of its combined net revenues. This segments principal brands and products include Oscar Mayer lunch meats, hot dogs and bacon, Lunchables lunch combinations, Boca soy-based meat alternatives, and Claussen pickles.

U.S. Grocery

During 2011, the Companys U.S. Grocery segment contributed 25% of its combined net revenues. This segments principal brands and products include Kraft and Kraft Deluxe macaroni & cheese dinners, Planters nuts, trail mixes and peanut butter, Corn Nuts corn snacks, Jell-O dry packaged desserts and refrigerated gelatin and pudding snacks, Cool Whip whipped topping, Jet-Puffed marshmallo! ws, Baker! s chocolate and baking ingredients, Kraft and Miracle Whip sp! oonable d! ressings, Kraft and Good Seasons salad dressings, A.1. steak sauce, Kraft and Bulls-Eye barbecue sauces, Grey Poupon mustards, Shake N Bake coatings, Stove Top stuffing mix, Taco Bell Home Originals (under license) meal kits, Velveeta shells and cheese dinners, and Velveeta Skillets meal kits.

Canada & N.A. Foodservice

During 2011, the Companys Canada & N.A. Foodservice segment contributed 21% of its combined net revenues. The principal products and brands in this segment span all of its segments. Canadian grocery offerings include Nabob coffee and Kraft peanut butter, as well as a range of products in the Grocery Business Lines. The North American foodservice business sells branded products, including Maxwell House coffee, A.1. steak sauce and a range of Kraft sauces, dressings and cheeses, and serves the needs of restaurants and other foodservice operations. Puerto Rico grocery offerings include all grocery business lines, except for powd ered and liquid concentrate beverages, such as Crystal Light, Tang and MiO. The North American Grocery Export Business products and brands span all grocery business lines, except for powdered and liquid concentrate beverages and certain products sold under brands, such as Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraftmayonnaise, which marketed and sold locally by Kraft ParentCo in countries outside the United States and Canada.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Andrew Marder]

  Competitors to watch out for
  While Starbucks could be said to be in competition with every cafe, I'm looking out for Panera Bread (NASDAQ: PNRA  ) and Kraft (NASDAQ: KRFT  ) . Panera is the cafe that has the best shot at making a dent in Starbucks' ironsides, with its extensive food menu and rapid growth. The company posted a comparable-sales increase of 3.3% last quarter, and the beginning of its current quarter was even stronger. If Starbucks makes a conc! erted pus! h into food, Panera could be its biggest hurdle.

• [By Rick Aristotle Munarriz]

  Alamy SodaStream (SODA) isn't getting any smaller. The company behind the popular namesake beverage platform that turns tap water into sparkling soda posted another quarter of inspired growth last week. Revenue climbed 29 percent during the period, and SodaStream now sees sales climbing 30 percent for all of 2013. The stock opened lower on the news, but that was largely on bottom-line concerns. SodaStream has been investing in its TV commercials, adding additional production to its global facilities, and buying up its distributors in Italy and Canada to have more control of its operations. These are the kinds of moves that will trip up margins and earnings growth in the near term, but as far as consumers go, SodaStream has never been more popular. How Sweet It Fizz Home carbonation didn't seem like a viable business model until SodaStream emerged on the global scene with a refreshed platform. There have been home-based soda makers before, and SodaStream itself has been in business for more than 100 years. If you look online, it's not hard to find the company's cheesy "get busy with the fizzy" commercial that aired in England more than 30 years ago. However, it wasn't until SodaStream brought in Dan Birnbaum as CEO in 2007 that things really started to get busy with the fizzy. Birnbaum had been an executive at Nike (NKE), and at the footwear and apparel giant, branding is a major component of the overall strategy. So when he came on board, he didn't just move to make the soda maker more efficient, he also wanted to make it more stylish. To turn SodaStream's small appliance into something that wouldn't end up collecting dust in the attic like other novelty products (we're looking at you snow cone maker and Margaritaville margarita machine) it had to look good on the kitchen counter. Beyond that, it was a matter of beefing up global distribution by getting its products sold in major retailers. ! A soda ma! ker couldn't succeed if it was a fringe product being

• [By Alex Planes]

  In 1960, seven of the 10 largest American companies (by revenue) were either automakers or oil producers. The largest pure consumer-goods company, Kraft (NASDAQ: KRFT  ) , made only 15% as much revenue as the largest company, General Motors (NYSE: GM  ) . The list of leading companies reads like a web of automotive interconnections: automakers, parts suppliers, steelmakers, tire manufacturers, oil refiners, and paint and plastics makers. Not one of the 100 largest companies in America was a retailer.

• [By WWW.DAILYFINANCE.COM]

  Mark Lennihan/AP There were plenty of winners and losers this week, with a car rental giant revealing that it will fall short of its earlier expectations and the leading Mexican fast food chain raising the stakes in the battle for hungry bargain seekers. Here's a rundown of the week's best and worst. Hertz (HTZ) -- Loser Renting cars isn't an easy gig these days. Auto rental giant Hertz announced that it will fall well short of earlier expectations, laying the blame on everything from weak demand for its equipment business to recalls getting in the way of its car supply. A couple of analysts lowered their ratings on the stock following the news. The shares started to bounce back after billionaire activist investor Carl Icahn revealed that he has taken a stake in the company, but his intentions are sometimes radical. Hertz was already trying to split its business in two, suffering from the restatements and delayed financials accompanying the move. The last thing Hertz needs is another distraction. GameStop (GME) -- Winner The video game industry is showing a lot of life these days, and GameStop, the dominant retailer, posted blowout quarterly results after Thursday's market close. Sales soared 25 percent relative to last year, fueled by a 21.9 percent spike in comparable-store sales. Hardware sales were naturally strong. The Xbox One and ! PS4 weren! 't out a year ago. Even new software sales -- something that's been sluggish for years -- came through with a double-digit increase. That's huge, since software carries much higher margins than consoles. Analysts were seemingly aggressive in expecting earnings per share to double for the period, but profits per share soared 144 percent. Game on, Wall Street. Bank of America (BAC) -- Loser Bank of America continues to pay the price for the misdeeds of Merrill Lynch and Countrywide, which helped trigger the subprime lending crisis that led to a global economic setback. The "too big to fail" bank is apparently not

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksforum.com/top-5-life-sciences-companies-to-watch-for-2015-2.html