Top 10 Beverage Stocks To Watch For 2015

Top 10 Beverage Stocks To Watch For 2015: Dr Pepper Sn apple Group Inc (DPS)

Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. (DPS), incorporated on October 24, 2007, is an integrated brand owner, manufacturer and distributor of non-alcoholic beverages in the United States, Canada and Mexico with a diverse portfolio of flavored (non-cola) carbonated soft drinks (CSDs) and non-carbonated beverages (NCBs), including ready-to-drink teas, juices, juice drinks and mixers. The Company operates in three segments: Beverage Concentrates, Packaged Beverages and Latin America Beverages. The Company primarily serves two groups of customers: bottlers and distributors and retailers. As of December 31, 2011, it operated 20 manufacturing facilities across the United States and Mexico, excluding its manufacturing facility for its joint venture with Acqua Minerale San Benedetto. Effective March 1, 2013, it acquired Dr. Pepper/7-UP Bottling Co of the West, a producer and wholesaler of bottled soft drinks.

Beverage Concentrates

The Companys Beverage Concentr ates segment is principally a brand ownership business. In this segment the Company manufactures and sells beverage concentrates in the United States and Canada. Most of the brands in this segment are CSD brands. Its brand portfolio includes CSD brands, such as Dr Pepper, Sunkist soda, 7UP, A&W, Canada Dry, Crush, Squirt, Penafiel and Schweppes. Beverage concentrates are shipped to third party bottlers, as well as to its own manufacturing systems, who combine them with carbonation, water, sweeteners and other ingredients, package it in PET containers, glass bottles and aluminum cans, and sell it as a finished beverage to retailers. Beverage concentrates are also manufactured into syrup, which is shipped to fountain customers, such as fast food restaurants, who mix the syrup with water and carbonation to create a finished beverage at the point of sale to consumers. Its Beverage Concentrates brands are sold by its bottlers, including its own Packaged! Beverages segment, through all retail channels, including supermarkets, fountains, mas! s merchandisers, club stores, vending machines, convenience stores, gas stations, small groceries, drug chains and dollar stores.

Packaged Beverages

The Companys Packaged Beverages segment is principally a brand ownership, manufacturing and distribution business. In this segment, it primarily manufacture and distribute packaged beverages and other products, including its brands, third party owned brands and certain private label beverages, in the United States and Canada. Key NCB brands in this segment include Hawaiian Punch, Snapple, Mott's, Yoo-Hoo, Clamato, Deja Blue, AriZona, FIJI, Mistic, Nantucket Nectars, ReaLemon, Mr and Mrs T, Rose's and Country Time. Key CSD brands in this segment include 7UP, Dr Pepper, A&W, Sunkist soda, Canada Dry, Squirt, RC Cola, Big Red, Sun Drop, Diet Rite, IBC and Vernors. Approximately 87% of its 2011 Packaged Beverages net sales of branded products come from its own brands, with the remaining from the distribu tion of third party brands, such as Big Red, AriZona tea, FIJI mineral water, Neuro beverages, Vita Coco coconut water and Hydrive energy drinks. A portion of its sales also comes from bottling beverages and other products for private label owners or others, which is also referred to as contract manufacturing. Its Packaged Beverages products are manufactured in multiple facilities across the United States and are sold or distributed to retailers and their warehouses by itsown distribution network or by third party distributors. The Company sells its Packaged Beverages products both through its Direct Store Delivery system (DSD), supported by a fleet of approximately 6,000 vehicles and 12,000 employees, including sales representatives, merchandisers, drivers and warehouse workers, as well as through its Warehouse Direct delivery system (WD), both of which include the sales to retail channels, including supermarkets, fountain channel, mass mercha! ndisers, ! club stores, ven ding machines, convenience stores, gas stations, small groce! ries, dru! g chains and dollar stores.

Latin America Beverages

The Companys Latin America Beverages segment is a brand ownership, manufacturing and distribution business. This segment participates mainly in the carbonated mineral water, flavored CSD, bottled water and vegetable juice categories, with particular strength in carbonated mineral water, vegetable juice categories and grapefruit flavored CSDs. Its brands include Squirt, Penafiel, Aguafiel, Crush and Clamato.

In Mexico, it manufactures and distributes its products through its bottling operations and third party bottlers and distributors. In the Caribbean, it distributes its products through third party bottlers and distributors. In Mexico, it also participate in a joint venture to manufacture Aguafiel brand water with Acqua Minerale San Benedetto. The Company sells its finished beverages through Mexican retail channels, including mom and pop stores, supermarkets, hypermarkets, and on premise channels.

The Company competes with The Coca-Cola Company (Coca-Cola), PepsiCo, Inc. (PepsiCo), Nestle, S.A. (Nestle), Kraft Foods Inc. (Kraft) and The Cott Corporation (Cott).

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Alex Planes]

  Although this process would revolutionize the drink industry that had for millennia produced little beyond alcoholic beverages for commercial sale, Priestley never capitalized on it. The first real effort to commercialize carbonated beverages fell instead to J. J. Schweppe, who founded Schweppes in Switzerland in 1783 and later moved the company to London. The Schweppes brand is now held by Dr Pepper Snapple (NYSE: DPS  ) in the United States and Canada, but in much of the rest of the world Schweppes products are made and marketed by either Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO  ) or Pepsico.The original soft-drink company is now thus controlled, to varying degrees, by the thre! e largest! soft-drink companies in the world. That market is now estimated to be worth nearly $500 billion in worldwide annual sales.

• [By Hank Coleman]
  It's not easy to find a great stock. In almost every case, investors have already priced good and bad news about the company into the stock's share price. But every once in a while, the market misprices a stock. So how do you find these hidden gems? A company's price-to-earnings ratio, or P/E, is one of the fundamental metrics that every stock picker should know. It's is a great place for every investor to start when trying to find undervalued stocks to purchase. How to Calculate a P/E Ratio To calculate a company's P/E ratio, simply divide the share price of a company's stock with its earnings per share. (For an apples-to-apples comparison, be sure to calculate the ratio on a per-share basis.) For example, if a company has a share price of $40 and earns a profit of $2 a share, its P/E ratio is 20. If the company's price per share were to increase to $60 and its profits remained the same, it would see its P/E ratio jump to 30. P/E Ratio Shows You If a Company's Stock Is Undervalued A company's P/E ratio is a leading indicator of an undervalued stock. A lower P/E ratio shows investors that a lower-priced stock is earning a larger profit. A higher P/E ratio indicates that a stock is more expensive or might not be earning a lot of profit when compared to the price of a share of its stock. P/E ratios are relative, and should only be compared to those of other companies within the same industry or sector. So, it isn't fair or even accurate most times to, for example, compare the P/E of a technology company with that of a consumer products company, as these industries typically have different P/E ratio levels. Technology companies frequently command a higher price for their stock, despite the lack of big profits. It isn't unusual to see some technology companies with a P/E of 40 or more. Conversely, consumer staples and blue chip ! companies! often have a lower P/E. It's important to compare companies within their own industry to identify buying opportuniti
• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Shares of Dr. Pepper (DPS) have been trouncing those of Coca-Cola (KO), PepsiCo (PEP) and even Monster Beverage (MNST) this year–but today it’s getting pounded thanks to a Citigroup downgrade.

  Sure, it’s been a great year for Dr. Pepper Snapple. It’s gained 21% so far this year, easily besting PepsiCo’s 6.5% rise, Monster Beverages 6.9% advance and Coca-Cola’s 1.4 % increase. Now, however, it’s time for Dr. Pepper’s shares to “take a breather,” explain Citigroup’s Wendy Nicholson and Peter Chun:

  Dr. Pepper Snapple has appreciated 22% year-to-date, far outpacing Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Monster Beverage and the S&P500. This relative outperformance comes despite Dr. Pepper Snapple’s outlook for only 0%-1% top line growth (with volumes expected to be down more than 1%) and 6%-8% EPS growth in 2014. With this big move in the stock now behind us, we downgradeDr. Pepper Snapple to a Neutral rating. Our reasons for the downgrade are as follows:

  U.S. CSD category growth has improved, but not by much;
  Dr. Pepper Snapple intends to reduce ad spending while its big competitors intend to increase it, and we fear that this could pressureDr. Pepper Snapple’s market shares;
  Snapple has historically been an iconic brand, but it is too small to really move the needle for Dr. Pepper Snapple , and overall,Dr. Pepper Snapple’s stills portfolio is struggling;
  Dr. Pepper Snapple’s RCI initiatives are impressive and ongoing, but despite lower advertising spending this year, we dont expect much margin expansion, and we wonder if the balance sheet improvements are largely behind us;
  From a stock market perspective, investor rotation away from EMs (which has benefitted Dr. Pepper Snapple) has probably largely played out;
  DPSs cash flow has bee! n terrifi! c for a while but an extra kiss from either Coca-Cola or Pep

• [By Dividends4Life]

  Memberships and Peers: PEP is a member of the S&P 500, a Dividend Aristocrat, a member of the Broad Dividend Achievers Index and a Dividend Champion. The company's peer group includes: The Coca-Cola Company (KO) with a 2.8% yield, Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. (DPS) with a 3.2% yield and Fomento Econ (FMX) with a 1.7% yield.

source from Top Penny Stocks For 2015:http://www.topstocksforum.com/top-10-beverage-stocks-to-watch-for-2015.html