J.M. Smucker rises as UBS upgrades on pet food divestiture

Post Holdings

10/02/2023 16:32

** Shares of Jif peanut butter maker J.M. Smucker Co  SJM.N 
up 1.2% at $147.91 
    ** Brokerage UBS upgrades SJM's stock to "neutral" from
"sell", raises PT to $155 from $132
    ** SJM on Wednesday announced an agreement to sell several
of its pet food brands, including Rachael Ray Nutrish, 9Lives
and its private label business to consumer-packaged goods
holding co Post Holdings Inc  POST.N  
    ** Company had said transaction is valued at about $1.2 bln,
consisting of $700 mln in cash and about 5.39 million shares of
common stock of POST
    ** UBS says with sale of ~50% of its pet portfolio, "we
believe the company is likely to deliver more consistent
top-line growth in the future and will improve its margin
profile" 
    ** One of 16 brokerages rate SJM's stock "buy" or higher, 10
"hold" and 5 "sell" or lower; median PT is $154 - Refinitiv
    ** SJM's stock has risen nearly 11% in past 12 months, while
POST rose ~32.1% during the same period 
 (Reporting by Granth Vanaik in Bengaluru)
 ((Granth.Vanaik@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter: https://twitter.com/Vanaik_Granth))