ConAgra Foods, Inc. (CAG), PepsiCo, Inc. (PEP): Are These Companies Worth Their Salt?

Of note for investors: PepsiCo has paid consecutive quarterly cash dividends since 1965, and 2012 marked their 40th consecutive annual dividend increase.

Tate & Lyle is an international provider of ingredients and solutions to the food, beverage, and other industries. SODA-LO Salt Microspheres is the company’s salt-reducing ingredient that tastes and functions like salt. This is because it is salt.  Food manufacturers, such as those above, can reduce salt levels by 25 to 50 percent in different applications without sacrificing taste with SODA-LO Salt Microspheres. The smaller, lower-density crystals efficiently deliver salty taste by maximizing surface area relative to volume.

Tate & Lyle recently issued an Interim Management Statement covering the period from Oct. 1, 2012 to Dec. 31, 2012. Within Specialty Food Ingredients, they achieved good sales growth with volume growth ahead of the wider specialty food ingredients market.

Investors should consider that Tate & Lyle is addressing consumers’ demands for healthier, lower-salt content snacks. They are marketing their SODA-LO Salt Microspheres to food manufacturing enterprises. For investors, a company staying in tune with business and consumers’ wishes is something to consider seriously.

These three companies may indeed be worth their salt to studious investors looking to earn a return from the lucrative snack food sector. Investors should consider companies that are addressing consumer concerns for healthier snacking, while not forgetting the value in their more salty core brands that propelled them to the forefront of the industry in the first place.

The article Are These Companies Worth Their Salt? originally appeared on Fool.com and is written by Michael Ugulini.

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