It is a tough year to be a Turkey Day investor. Year to date, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is off about 8%, the S&P 500 is down approximately 18% and the Nasdaq Composite Index has lost about 30%, making your investment portfolio about as appetizing as a dried-out turkey leg.
If you haven’t lost your appetite yet, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the food index has increased nearly 11% compared to last year making your holiday meal that much more expensive. The Thanksgiving turkey you will feed your family tomorrow costs between 75% and 112% more than it did last year, thanks to inflation, supply chain issues and a bird flu outbreak that is adding to the cost of poultry.
Economic concerns aside, it is possible to invest in Thanksgiving. According to a Bank of America note published last year, the following public companies have the most to lose or gain during the Thanksgiving holiday: Campbell's Soup Company (Tii:CPB), General Mills (Tii:GIS), The Kraft Heinz Company (Tii:KHC), Conagra Brands (Tii:CAG), Hormel Foods Corporation (Tii:HRL), McCormick & Company (Tii:MKC) and The Duckhorn Portfolio (Tii:NAPA).
Let’s take a closer look at these companies and how they profit from Thanksgiving.
You can’t have green bean casserole without cream of mushroom soup. Campbell’s Soup Company has you covered. The company that makes consumer staples has seen its stock rise this year, up nearly 21% year to date.
General Mills brands is involved in just about every aspect of your Thanksgiving meal, from the Gardetto’s or Chex mix you serve as a pre-meal snack to the Betty Crocker cake you create for dessert. Brands also include Bisquick, Annie’s, Cascadian Farms and Doolies to name a few. The company even has your pet’s Thanksgiving dinner covered with its Blue Buffalo brand. General Mill’s stock is up about 22% year to date.
If you can’t plan your menu with General Mills alone, The Kraft Heinz Company can probably cover much of the rest. The Kraft Heinz Company not only includes its namesake brands, but also a number of them that help fill our Thanksgiving tables like Velveeta, Ore-Ida, Philadelphia and Jell-o, to name just a few. The company’s stock is up 7% so far this year.
Conagra Brands includes several brands that fill out your turkey day feast including Hunts, Vlasic, Birds Eye and Duncan Hines, to name a few. And if you burn the bird, the company’s Hungry-Man brand can save the day with a fast frozen meal. Conagra’s stock is up 8% this year.
More than 40 Hormel Foods brands are No. 1 or No. 2 in their categories and its products are sold in more than 80 countries, including China, Japan, Australia, South Korea and the Philippines. About 90 million jars of the company’s SKIPPY peanut butter are sold each year. Hormel also includes the Jennie-O brand, which specializes in everything from deli meats to whole turkeys. The company’s stock is up about 1% in 2022.
McCormick & Company is known for the spices you use to create your Thanksgiving meal. The company’s brands also include sauces like Cattlemen’s BBQ Sauce, Cholula and Frank’s RedHot. McCormick & Company’s stock is down about 11% this year.
A brand you might not know as well is The Duckhorn Portfolio, but every table needs some wine to serve with the meal. The Duckhorn Portfolio is an American wine company producing varietal labelled and blended red, white, rosé, and sparkling wines from California and Washington State. Its stock is down 33% in 2022. Individual investors looking for some shareholder rewards might consider Willamette Valley Vineyards (Tii:WWVI) wine for the Thanksgiving feast. Investors with just 100 shares of the company who connect their brokerage on TiiCKER are eligible for discounts on wine, VIP winery tours and discounted admission to special events.
Food distributors such as United Natural Foods (Tii:UNFI) offers grocery and general food service products in the U.S. and Canada. Its largest customer is Amazon's (Tii:AMZN) Whole Foods. Retailers like Kroger’s (Tii:KR) and Walmart (Tii:WMT) also benefit from the added Thanksgiving bump.
After the Thanksgiving meal is cleared and the football games are over, many people look forward to no-fuss food later in the day. If you want a late meal or snack that is healthy but doesn’t take an army of chefs to create, look to Real Good Foods (Tii:RGF). The company has a full line of nutrient-dense, low-carb, high-protein frozen foods that taste great. Retail investors with just 10 shares of the company are eligible for valuable shareholder rewards on TiiCKER.