Investors don't typically view a trip to the neighborhood grocery store as an opportunity to do some field research for promising growth stocks. Supermarkets themselves are low-margin operations, and the packaged foods companies filling the shelves are typically sleepy businesses. However, take a closer look at some of the merchandise and you'll find a couple of companies coming through with some impressive growth rates.
Beyond Meat (BYND 0.95%), Simply Good Foods (SMPL -0.64%), and Freshpet (FRPT 1.31%) are three companies with products you'll find at a supermarket near you. They are posting double- and, in one case, triple-digit revenue growth. Let's fill that empty shopping cart with some surprisingly strong growth stocks to check out.
Image source: Getty Images.
Beyond Meat
Embracing a plant-based diet is a lot tastier since Beyond Meat and rival Impossible Foods emerged on the scene with their next-gen beef substitutes that taste just like the real thing. Beyond Meat's signature burgers are showing up on menus across leading restaurants, but the company also has an equally impressive -- and larger -- business at retailers across the country stocking its faux beef patties, sausages, and beef crumbles.
Revenue soared 141% in its latest quarter, and its retail sales actually outpaced its foodservice gains. With Beyond Meat expanding its product line, widening its distribution, and gaining traction with even some carnivore fans, it's hard to resist the juicy allure of Beyond Meat as an investment.
Simply Good Foods
There's more to the 83% top-line surge at Simply Good Foods for its latest quarter than meets the eye. The company behind Atkins-branded low-carb nutrition bars, shakes, snacks, and quick-prepared meals acquired Quest Nutrition late last year. The move added a popular line of protein bars, cookies, and chips, but more importantly it accounted for the lion's share of the revenue burst.
The good news for investors is that legacy sales from its Atkins lines are still coming through with double-digit growth, up 12% for the fiscal second quarter that ended in February. The deal makes sense, and the synergies are already starting to materialize. Simply Good Foods has beaten Wall Street profit targets with ease for the two quarters since the Quest acquisition, including an adjusted profit of $0.23 a share last time out when analysts were expecting slightly less than the $0.18 a share it had earned a year earlier.
Freshpet
It's not just humans getting fed at your local grocery store. Pet food is a supermarket staple, but Freshpet stands out from the pack -- literally -- with its branded fridges and coolers selling its refrigerated meals for dogs and cats.
The humanization of pets is a hot trend playing right into Freshpet's strengths as a premium-priced brand. Sales are accelerating for the fourth year in a row, rising 28% through the first three months of this year. With consumers likely to keep spoiling their pets through a recession and adoptions surging during the pandemic, it's easy to see why Freshpet will keep winning. A pet food stock with a bigger moat than you think (as supermarkets are highly unlikely to let a rival refrigerated pet food company set up shop with similar branded refrigerators) is an investor's best friend.
