The Holy Grail of investing is to find a great business whose stock is trading at a great price. Alas, while that happens often enough for patient investors to stay fully invested, it doesn't happen all the time. More often than not, investors have to chose between a mix of "great company/not-so-great stock price," "not-so-great company/great stock price," and "lousy company/lousy stock price."

It is with that in mind that I say that I think SYSCO (NYSE:SYY) is absolutely a great company, but I'm still not convinced that the stock is so great.

The company's fiscal fourth-quarter results were pretty respectable, though. Adjusting for the extra week in the year-ago period, reported sales rose 5.6%, with 1% of that from acquisitions and another 1.6% from inflation. That leaves "core" revenue growth of about 3% -- better than the third quarter and the second-straight improvement in the time I've watched them as a contributor to The Motley Fool.

It should be noted, though, that sales were down without that adjustment for the extra week. Consequently, reported net-income growth of 1.5% is actually a bit better than it might otherwise appear, as that figure was not gerrymandered to account for the extra week in the year-ago period.

Even though growth (whether measured in net income or operating cash flow) was sluggish for this fiscal year, I don't believe that the company is doomed to forever be a single-digit midget in terms of growth. Not only does the company have a solid lead on the likes of Ahold's (NYSE:AHO) U.S. Foodservice, Performance Food Group (NASDAQ:PFGC), and BerkshireHathaway's (NYSE:BRK.a) McLane Foodservice, but it also has the opportunity to increase its market share amongst existing restaurant/food-service customers.

Although same-store sales at some restaurant chains like Wendy's (NYSE:WEN), RubyTuesday (NYSE:RI), and Outback Steakhouse (NYSE:OSI) have been a bit disappointing, I don't believe we're seeing any sort of mass trend away from casual dining. Further, with ongoing improvements in distribution and fulfillment, opportunistic acquisitions, and possible improvements in production costs, there is certainly cause to believe that better growth could still lie ahead.

Nevertheless, I'm still not a major fan of the stock at today's price. Believe me, I'm well aware that SYSCO is a favorite amongst many respected value-oriented investors and, for what it's worth, I agree that it's a great company. But I just can't get my valuation models to signal "buy" on this, and when faced with the choice of scrapping a system that's worked well for me for a long time or staying cool on SYSCO shares, I think I'll have to choose the latter.

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Fool contributor Stephen Simpson has no financial interest in any stocks mentioned (that means he's neither long nor short the shares).