With Super Bowl XLVII nearly here, there is no question that many of us–wherever we may find ourselves on the spectrum that spans from diehard fans of the game to those who will be tagging along for nothing so much as the company of family and friends–will be celebrating. Quite obviously, and irrespective of one’s motivations for attending them, Super Bowl celebrations are more often than not accompanied by adequate-to-inordinate amounts of food and alcohol. And, perhaps less obviously to many who will be watching, so many aspects of this spectacular, uniquely American event are intimately connected to the markets.
From the standpoint of food, Tyson Foods (TSN) just released their fourth quarter earnings report, which indicates a 10.6 percent increase in net income to $173 million for the quarter (compared to the same period last year, when the gain was $156 million). Furthermore, the company reported earnings-per-share $0.48 for the first quarter, beating analyst estimates of $0.42 per share. And while last summer’s drought is expected to put a damper on chicken production (with the subsequent increase in the price of feed), the company has assured consumers that there will be no shortage of chicken wings for this weekend’s Super Bowl festivities. We should keep in mind that Super Bowl celebrations alone account for 5 percent of yearly chicken-wing consumption in the United States!
If food is the yin, alcohol is the yang, as it were. Portland Oregon’s Craft Brew Alliance Inc. (BREW) is an independent craft-brewing company that produces beers like Widmer, Redhook, and Kona. Any beer-drinker remotely concerned with what goes down the hatch will have noticed the increasing ubiquity of these labels in their local liquor and grocery stores over the last 10 years. With a market cap of $125.86 million, sales at $162.28 million, and an Earnings-Per-Share growth of 53.08 percent for the last five years, there seems to be a great deal going in favor of good beer, even in the face of increasing competition from the big beer brewers who are more and more aggressively trying to capture this market for themselves with similar-looking but not quite as crafty/micro brands like Shocktop, Blue Moon, and Landshark.
For those of us who do not drink alcohol, there is always soda. Pepsi (PEP) and Coca-Cola (KO) ads have a long presence in the Super Bowl advertisement extravaganza, but this year a relatively new company will take a shot at the big soda manufacturers. Sodastream International (SODA), an Israeli outfit, has bought ad time for the game, which it will use to introduce a vast audience of Americans to the notion of making soda in the comfort of one’s own home. The company boasts a market cap of $981.52 million, sales of $392.40 million (most of this from Europe and other non-US markets), and an estimated EPS for the next five years of 30.35 percent. Their commercials, quite plausibly, offer consumers a way of making soda to personal specification, and claim to remove the threat of potentially health-hazardous ingredients that are traditionally found in soft drinks.
So, you may want to consider all of this while you are watching the game, feeding your face, inching (or stampeding, as the case may be) towards inebriation–or all of the above!–this coming Sunday. Or you may have your reasons not to. Either way, these companies are showing at least modest promise for 2013.
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