Dear Mr. Berko: Please tell me what you can about B&G Foods — its products, management and financials. I may buy 200 shares for my individual retirement account because my stockbroker insists it will double in price, from $37 to the $70s, by next summer. Even if it doesn’t double, I like the stock because it pays a 5.6 percent dividend. Please give me your opinion.
— H.L., Wilmington, N.C.
Dear H.L.: About 11.2 percent of the U.S. population becomes dizzy because the Earth spins counterclockwise on its axis and travels counterclockwise around the sun. However, for some mysterious reason, the Earth’s spin and orbit affect 46.3 percent of stockbrokers.
Food is always a good business. But unless B&G’s management can design new products such as Frito-Lay lemonade, Colgate frozen dinners, Life Savers soda pop and Stallone high-protein pudding, I haven’t the foggiest idea why that nincompoop broker of yours insists that B&G Foods will double in price by next year.
Based in Parsippany, N.J., B&G Foods (BGS-$37) is responsible for putting Cream of Wheat, Don Pepino, Durkee, Mrs. Dash and Accent on grocers’ shelves. It stocks those shelves with pickles, relish, peppers, olives, capers, giardiniera and sauerkraut. BGS also markets names such as B&M beans, Emeril’s, Grandma’s molasses, Joan of Arc, Red Devil and Crystal hot sauces, Old London, Green Giant, and Polaner across the country. The company also makes salad dressings, salsas, Ortega taco shells and kits, canned meats, bagel chips, nut clusters and granola bars. And it sells and distributes household products under the popular Static Guard brand. B&G’s products are carried by most grocers, convenience stores, supermarket chains, wholesale clubs, specialty distributors and mass merchants.
