Tag Archives: benzinga

The Merging of Kraft and Heinz Makes Investor ETF Hungry

MarketMuse blog update profiles the jolt the food and beverage ETFs received on Wednesday when Kraft Foods and the H.J. Heinz Company announced a merge making the new company the world’s fifth-largest food company. This MarketMuse update is courtesy of Benzinga’s 25 March article “Heinz-Kraft News Lifts Food & Beverage ETF“, with an excerpt from the article below. 

This week it was announced that Kraft Foods Group Inc KRFT 4.49% would combine with H.J. Heinz Co. in a move engineered by Brazil-based 3G Capital and Berkshire Hathaway Inc (NYSE: BRK-B).

The combination of these two iconic brands will create a powerhouse consumer staples company with far reaching global exposure.

On Thursday, Kraft rose more than 35 percent on news of the deal, which will include a special cash dividend and 49 percent ownership share in the new combined company.

This jump also impacted a specialty ETF designed to capitalize on the strength of food, beverage, and restaurant stocks.

The PowerShares Dynamic Food & Beverage Portfolio PBJ 0.63% invests in a portfolio of 30 U.S. food and beverage companies based on strict selection criteria that includes price and earnings momentum, quality and value.

Kraft is the eighth largest holding in PBJ, with a 4.69 percent allocation, that sent the fund soaring to new 52-week highs on Thursday.

Read more: http://www.benzinga.com/etfs/sector-etfs/15/03/5356681/heinz-kraft-news-lifts-food-beverage-etf#ixzz3VbblOTeG


To read the entire article from Benzinga on the boost in food and beverage ETFs, click here.

Benzinga Asks: Is This ETF Home to Buffett’s Next Target?

benzinga-logoCourtesy of the ETF Professor at Benzinga.com

The $28 billion purchase of ketchup king H.J. Heinz (NYSE: HNZ) by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A) and Brazilian financier Jorge Paulo Lemann has had a predictable result. Traders and investors want to know who is next; what company will be Buffett’s next elephant?

Buffett has an enviable problem: Berkshire’s cash hoard. Even after committing $12.1 billion for Heinz, Berkshire still has $15 billion left to go shopping with, and that number grows by the month according to Bloomberg.

By his own admission, Buffett’s thirst for big deals, or “elephants” as he calls them, is not quenched. That likely means traders and investors are already trying to figure out what company could be next on Berkshire’s shopping list.

As has been previously noted, ETFs ranging from the Market Vectors Coal ETF (NYSE: KOL) to the Industrial Select Sector SPDR (NYSE: XLI) are home to some potential Berkshire targets.

Following the Heinz deal, another ETF has jumped to the forefront of the Berkshire deal speculation conversation. That ETF is the PowerShares Dynamic Food & Beverage Portfolio (NYSE: PBJ). Shares of PBJ, which is home to almost $111 million in assets under management, have jumped 2.2 percent in the past week and are now trading at an all-time high.

The ETF’s recent bullishness is due in large part to the Heinz deal because that stock is is PBJ’s largest holding, accounting for 5.7 percent of the fund’s weight. To be fair, some of PBJ’s recent upside has come by way of Constellation Brands (NYSE: STZ), another top-10 holding in the ETF, making a deal with AnheuserBusch InBev (NYSE: BUD) that gives the former rights to sell Corona and other Grupo Modelo beer labels in the U.S.

Still, near-term ebullience pertaining to PBJ is likely to be fueled by speculation that the ETF is home to another Buffett acquisition candidate. Including Heinz, PBJ is home to 30 stocks. Of the remaining 29 stocks, eliminating unlikely Berkshire targets is not difficult.

Read more: http://www.benzinga.com/trading-ideas/long-ideas/13/02/3345461/is-this-etf-home-to-buffetts-next-target##ixzz2LNs9azVR

ETFs for #MarchMadness

Someone with the handle “ETF Professor” is said to have studiously researched specific ETFs (and a few single stocks) that might bounce higher thanks to the billions that will be spent promoting, viewing, betting, and let’s not forget dining and imbibing, in the course of this week’s NCAA March Madness.

At the risk of diluting the institutional flavor of this blog by completely plagiarizing the aforementioned research, we take the high road with the new “Curator’s Code”  and invite you to find out why the Professor is pointing to the following symbols for a free throw:

BJK, GLD, PBS, PEJ, SLV, VT, CBS, CMG, MCD, YUM, GLTR

Click on this logo for the full tip sheet: