You have to check out the splash page of snack company Lance's
If Lance shareholders aren't laughing with me, they're smiling at the very least: The company's shares have enjoyed a market-beating 12-month run. Yesterday, after the market's close, the company released full-year (ended Dec. 25) financial results that help explain why. Revenue rose 6.7% to $600.5 million, while net profit improved 36% to $24.9 million -- or, perhaps more instructively, a bit under 4% when a year-ago charge for discontinuing a mini-sandwich cracker distribution operation is figured in.
Those aren't bad numbers for a company in a relatively slow-growth business that didn't make any big-ticket acquisitions -- particularly given that the market seems to only now be recovering from a low-carb trend that hurt many snack makers and drove dozens of "alternative" products to the already glutted market. For a company that can't compete with the brand cachet of operations like PepsiCo's
Lance has been helped by its strong relationship with retailer Wal-Mart
Lance, financially stable and a strong cash flow producer, looks like an interesting company -- though a highly valued one: Investors need to keep its rich dividend yield, which sits north of 8%, in mind when valuing the company's shares.
Tim Beyers examined Lance in a 2004 column discussing 5 Stocks From High-Carb Heaven. And in 2003, Jeff Fischer recommended the company's shares to his mom.
Fool contributor Dave Marino-Nachison doesn't own any of the companies in this story.