Because the bear market continues to rage on, one boring inventory has quietly hit an all-time excessive. On Tuesday, shares of Normal Mills reached $76.09, a brand new intraday excessive because the meals firm began publicly buying and selling in 1928. Buyers have been optimistic on the meals firm, which has gained greater than 10% this 12 months whereas the most important averages dropped into bear market territory over the identical time interval. The pop within the inventory got here shortly after the open, however Normal Mills shares have been lately down almost 2% in buying and selling. The Dow Jones Industrial Common final dropped about 500 factors , or about 1.7%, as recession considerations loomed over merchants. The maker of Cheerios and Annie’s lately impressed Wall Avenue with an earnings beat that proved it might elevate costs to cowl rising prices, with out hurting gross sales of its cereals, yogurts and different pantry staples. Throughout its earnings name, Normal Mills CEO Jeffrey Harmening stated extra shoppers are switching to at-home consuming, as a substitute of eating out at eating places, to save cash as meals costs proceed to rise. “Proper now, the patron is in an honest place and we have not actually seen any elasticity change,” Harmening stated. “And I believe that is due to the shift from away-from-home to at-home consuming.” Client demand for packaged meals ought to stay robust regardless of traditionally excessive charges of inflation, in response to a observe final month from Financial institution of America. Family budgets are being stretched by greater meals prices, gasoline costs and rents. The agency stated corporations akin to Normal Mills stay “comparatively resilient” as volumes throughout packaged meals stay elevated. Final week, Normal Mills stated it authorised a 6% improve to its dividend, which is interesting to buyers who want to generate revenue amid larger market volatility. In August, the meals producer pays out a quarterly dividend of 54 cents per share, up from 51 cents the prior quarter. This places the inventory’s dividend yield at 2.9%, in response to FactSet.
