Boston, MA 03/19/2014 (wallstreetpr) – Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) deals in chicken products. The company has plant locations in the U.S., Mexico and Puerto Rico. The stock is currently witnessing exciting rally with significant gains session after session over the past weeks. Analyst sentiments have also been changing in its favor of late. When such things begin to happen, it makes a lot of sense to find out what is at the end of the tunnel.
Shares of the $5.11 billion market capped company closed $19.72, up 1.91 percent in the last session. The gain came on the back of solid volume. The Tuesday session saw the stock establishing a new one-year high at $19.83. Basically, of late the stock has been smashing previous price records and establishing new ones instead.
Expansion plans
In order to take advantage of the market opportunities in Mexico, Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) plans a new processing plant in Veracruz. According to CEO Bill Lovette, location in Veracruz is attractive in that it is a region of fast growing economy and chicken production is also high in the region. Also, the region is close to feed grain import area which means that getting feeds for the live chicken will be easy if not cheaper than in other locations. By expanding into Mexico, PPC confirms its resolve to tap opportunities whenever they emerge in order to grow and return solid value to shareholders.
Higher savings
The company expects to boost its financial savings in the current year. By end of 2014, the management hopes they will have achieved $200 million in saving. The company is also looking to tapping more revenue through margin improvement.
Is the stock a buy?
A good stock is one that has both compelling prospects and a history of improving performance. If these two are a guide, then Pilgrim’s Pride Corporation (NASDAQ:PPC) comes a cross as a buy given that it possesses a compelling combination of the two.
Perhaps to give credence to the buy recommendation, it is important to note that the stock recently earned an upgrade from Stephens. The brokerage now has PPC at overweight, up from equal-weight. On average, the stock carries consensus buy rating and price objective of $18.83.
