Top 10 Food Stocks To Invest In 2014

Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG  ) has had a remarkable run over the past five years, despite being essentially a one-trick pony. Chipotle has cultivated a loyal customer base who are willing to pay a slight premium for high-quality food (mostly burritos, tacos, and salads) that's ethically sourced. The company's rapid growth has led to strong returns for early investors.

Chipotle Mexican Grill 5 Year Price Chart, data by YCharts

Two years ago, Chipotle began testing a new concept restaurant, ShopHouse Southeast Asian Kitchen, with one location in Washington, D.C. The restaurant offers a "Chipotle-style" take on Asian cuisine. Apparently, Chipotle now thinks the ShopHouse concept is ready for prime time, because the company announced this week that it has signed leases for four new ShopHouse restaurants, in addition to three that are already under construction.

Top Media Stocks To Watch For 2015: H.J. Heinz Company (HNZ)

H. J. Heinz Company manufactures and markets food products for consumers, and foodservice and institutional customers in North America, Europe, the Asia Pacific, and internationally. The company primarily offers ketchup, condiments and sauces, frozen food, soups, beans and pasta meals, infant nutrition, and other food products. It sells its products through its sales organizations, independent brokers, agents, and distributors to chain, wholesale, cooperative, and independent grocery accounts; convenience stores; bakeries; pharmacies; mass merchants; club stores; foodservice distributors; and institutions, including hotels, restaurants, hospitals, health-care facilities, and government agencies. The company was founded in 1869 and is based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Matt Koppenheffer]

  On negative implications of the H.J. Heinz� (NYSE: HNZ  ) �deal.�A questioner wondered whether Berkshire's preferred position in the Heinz deal and the high price paid suggested that Buffett isn't optimistic about the returns available in the market. Buffett responded simply that that was "totally inaccurate." Munger later added on: "As you said, the report was totally wrong."

• [By Tim Brugger]

  An investment consortium comprised of Berkshire Hathaway (NYSE: BRK-A  ) and a 3G Capital investment fund has completed the acquisition of H.J. Heinz (NYSE: HNZ  ) for $72.50 per share and a new CEO has taken over Heinz, the company announced today.

Top 10 Food Stocks To Invest In 2014: Prestige Brand Holdings Inc.(PBH)

Prestige Brands Holdings, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, engages in marketing, selling, and distributing over-the-counter healthcare and household cleaning products primarily in North America. The company?s Over-The-Counter Healthcare segment offers a portfolio of OTC products under nine core OTC brands, including Chloraseptic sore throat remedies, Clear Eyes eye drops, Compound W wart removers, Dramamine motion sickness products, Efferdent and Effergrip denture products, Little Remedies pediatric healthcare products, Luden's cough drops, PediaCare pediatric healthcare products, and The Doctor?s brand of oral care products. This segment also provides other significant brands that include Dermoplast first-aid products, Murine eye and ear care products, NasalCrom allergy relief product, New-Skin liquid bandage, and Wartner wart removers. Its Household Cleaning segment markets household cleaning products, such as abrasive and non-abrasive tub and tile cleaner, scrubb ing pads and sponges, dilutables, anti-bacterial hard surface spray for counter tops, and glass cleaners under the Comet, Chore Boy, and Spic and Span brands. Prestige Brands Holdings distributes its products through various retail channels, including drug, food, dollar, and club stores, as well as supermarkets and mass merchandisers. The company was founded in 1996 and is headquartered in Irvington, New York.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Sean Williams]

  What: Shares of Prestige Brands (NYSE: PBH  ) , a marketer of over-the-counter health care and household cleaning products, jumped as much as 14% after it announced the acquisition of Australia's Care Pharmaceuticals.

Top 10 Food Stocks To Invest In 2014: Fairway Group Holdings Corp (FWM)

Fairway Group Holdings Corp., incorporated on September 29, 2006, operates in the retail food industry, selling fresh, natural and organic products, prepared foods, and specialty and gourmet offerings along with a assortment of conventional groceries. The Company focuses on perishable product categories, which include produce, natural and organic, deli, specialty, cheese, butcher, seafood, bakery, coffee and kosher foods. Its non-perishable product categories consist of conventional groceries, as well as specialty foods. It operates two stores on the West Side of Manhattan, New York. As of September 24, 2012, it operated 11 locations in the Greater New York City metropolitan area, three of which include Fairway Wines & Spirits stores.

The Company�� natural and organic product categories include fruits and vegetables, natural and fresh juices, organic OBE beef and organic chicken, fresh organic peanut butter and natural almond butter, fresh roasted coffees and loose teas, dried fruits and nuts, full assortment of natural and organic groceries, cold cuts and cheeses, breads, supplements (homeopathy, vitamins, herbs), nutritional bars and protein powders, health and beauty aids, dairy, including Fairway-branded organic milk, eggs, including Fairway-branded organic eggs, vegetarian dairy alternatives, frozen foods, e gluten-free selections, baby food and baby care items and cleaning products. It offers a classic New York deli counter. It carries smoked salmon prepared using its own recipe and hand-craft its own fresh mozzarella daily.

The Company�� Specialty Imports and Specialty Grocery departments provide shoppers with specialty and gourmet items, such as Lapalisse pure and virgin nut oils; authentic Sicilian foodstuffs; Burgundy's organic La Trinquelinette fruit preserves made in small batches using only unrefined raw cane sugar; ready-to-eat vacuum-packed beets from the Loire Valley; L'Herbier de Milly La Foret verbena, hibiscus, peppermint and linden blossom infusions; L! a Quiberonnaise Vintage Sardines from Brittany, France; Pruneaux d'Agen (stuffed prunes), and Royal Medjool dates, Quercy's soft dried figs and apricots. It carries approximately 115 varieties of specialty olive oil, including numerous imported unfiltered olive oils, and offer all-day, every day tasting of olive oils in each of its stores.

The Company has meat delivered every day and it is cut and packaged at each of its stores within 24 hours of receipt. It also receives daily deliveries of fresh ice-packed chicken. It offers 50 to 80 different selections of fresh fish and seafood in each store every day. It utilizes a combination of on-site and centralized bakeries to produce our baked goods. Its full-service bakery prepares its signature cookies, tarts, cupcakes, baguettes and bagels. It offers over 100 types of artisanal coffee beans sold by the pound, as well as over a dozen varieties of Fair Trade certified and organic coffee.

The Company offers an array of kosher options, including Fairway's branded products, its conventional and specialty groceries, its coffee, as well as its baked goods, dairy, organic, gluten-free, imported and frozen items. It offers a variety of cuts of kosher poultry, red meat and seafood. It carries a range of conventional grocery items. Its grocery aisles are stacked high with the national brand names Tide, Bounty, Kleenex, Charmin, Lysol, Poland Spring, Oreo, Cheerios, Lipton, Hershey's, Coke, Green Giant, and many more. In addition, it offers an array of ethnic groceries that cater to each store's local demographic.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jason Moser]

  You can be forgiven if you've never heard of Fairway Group Holdings (NASDAQ: FWM  ) . The company is responsible for Fairway Market, a small chain of high-end grocery stores currently in and around the greater New York City metropolitan area.

• [By Charles Sizemore]

  All of this points to a rosy picture for premium grocery chains. Yet the stock performancee paint a very different picture. Compare the performance of publicly traded premium grocers — Whole Foods, Sprouts Farmers Market (SFM), The Fresh Market (TFM), and Fairway Group Holdings (FWM) — against that of the ultimate common-man�� grocer, Walmart. Since last October, Walmart is the only grocer stock that hasn�� seen substantial declines. What gives? I have one word for you: valuation.

• [By Leslie Patton]

  Whole Foods is facing increased competition from expanding organic and natural-food sellers including Fairway Group Holdings Corp. (FWM) and Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. (SFM) The chain has been adding more of its 365 private-label brand items to attract price-conscious shoppers. Sales at stores open at least a year rose 5.9 percent in the fourth quarter, which ended Sept. 29, the slowest growth in 15 quarters.

• [By John Udovich]

  Large cap natural and organic foods supermarket giant Whole Foods Market, Inc (NASDAQ: WFM), otherwise known as ��hole Wallet��r ��hole Paycheck,��is not the only player in the natural or organics supermarket space for consumers and investors alike as mid cap Sprouts Farmers Market Inc (NASDAQ: SFM) and small caps Fairway Group Holdings Corp (NASDAQ: FWM) and Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage Inc (NYSE: NGVC) are also players in the space. It should be mentioned that Whole Foods Market is down 15.7% since the start of the year and has a downward trending technical chart, but�shares are�still up 13% over the past year, up 426.3% over the past five years and up 3,108.6% since January 1992.

Top 10 Food Stocks To Invest In 2014: Biosev SA (BSEV3)

Biosev SA, formerly LDC Bioenergia SA, is a Brazil-based company active in the sugar and energy business. It is primarily engaged in the sugarcane processing. The Company produces sugar and ethanol, and supplies its products to domestic and international markets. Its refined sugar is sold under the Estrela brand name on the Brazilian retail market. The ethanol products comprise: hydrous ethanol, anhydrous ethanol and neutral ethanol. Other products from its plants include animal feed, dry yeast, molasses powder and bioelectricity from sugarcane bagasse. The Company�� customers include Nestle, Coca-Cola, AmBev, Kraft, Dori and Unilever, among others. The Company's production units are present in five Brazilian states: Mato Grosso do Sul, Sao Paulo, Minas Gerais, Paraiba and Rio Grande do Norte. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lucia Kassai]

  Biosev SA (BSEV3), Louis Dreyfus Holding BV�� Brazil unit, tumbled in its debut after giving investors in its initial public offering a money-back guarantee.

Top 10 Food Stocks To Invest In 2014: KBB Resources Bhd (KBB)

KBB Resources Berhad is an investment holding company. The Company is engaged in manufacturing and marketing of all types of rice and sago sticks (vermicelli), sago starch and related products. The Company�� product includes Rice Vermicelli, Instant Noodle, Instant Bihun, Laksa and Sago. The Company�� subsidiaries include Kilang Bihun Bersatu Sdn Bhd, which is engaged in Manufacturing and marketing of all types of rice and sago sticks (vermicelli); Rasayang Food Industries Sdn Bhd, which is engaged in manufacturing and trading of beehoon and beehoon laksa; Bersatu Noodles Industries Sdn Bhd, which is engaged in manufacturing and trading of noodles and related products, and Bersatu Biotechnology (Johore) Sdn Bhd, which is engaged in manufacturing and marketing of all types of sago starch and related products. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Neha Marwah]

  LMC Automotive expects the annualized rate to be 16.1 million, the best in six years. This is a decent improvement from last year�� November, when the industry reported 15.3 million as the adjusted annualized rate. In comparison, Kelley Blue Book (KBB) expects the November 2013 SAAR to be around 15.6 million, while Edmunds.com estimates it to be 15.7 million.

Top 10 Food Stocks To Invest In 2014: SuperValu Inc.(SVU)

SUPERVALU INC., together with its subsidiaries, operates retail food stores in the United States. Its stores offer grocery, general merchandise, health and beauty care, pharmacy, and fuel products. The company operates stores under the Acme, Albertsons, Cub Foods, Farm Fresh, Hornbacher?s, Jewel-Osco, Lucky, Shaw?s, Shop ?n Save, Shoppers Food & Pharmacy, and Star Market banners, as well as in-store pharmacies under the Osco and Sav-on banners. It operates approximately 2,394 traditional and hard-discount retail food stores, including 899 licensed Save-A-Lot stores. The company also offers supply chain services, which include wholesale distribution of products to independent retailers, including single and multiple grocery store independent operators, regional and national chains, mass merchants, and the military customers, as well as provides logistics support services. SUPERVALU was founded in 1871 and is based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Ben Levisohn]

  Amazon.com (AMZN) might be bringing Amazon Fresh to a city near you–and hammering your grocery stock in the process. Deutsche Bank sees tough times for Supervalu�(SVU) and Safeway�(SWY)� if an when Amazon expands its grocery delivery service beyond its three current test markets, while Kroger (KR) and Whole Foods Markets (WFM) should be able to thrive.

Top 10 Food Stocks To Invest In 2014: Nash-Finch Company(NAFC)

Nash-Finch Company operates as a wholesale food distributor in the United States. The company?s Military segment distributes grocery products to the United States military commissaries and exchanges in the United States and the District of Columbia, Europe, Puerto Rico, Cuba, the Azores, Egypt, and Bahrain. Its Food Distribution segment sells and distributes various branded and private label grocery products and perishable food products to approximately 1,500 independent retail locations through its 14 distribution centers. This segment also provides various services, including promotional, advertising, and merchandising programs; installation of computerized ordering, receiving, and scanning systems; retail equipment procurement assistance; accounting, budgeting, and payroll contract services; consumer and market research; remodeling and store development services; supply chain through Internet services; and securing existing grocery stores. The company?s Retail segment operates corporate-owned grocery stores under the Sun Mart, Econofoods, AVANZA, Family Thrift Center, Pick ?n Save, Family Fresh Market, Prairie Market, Saver?s Choice, Wally?s Supermarkets, and Wholesale Food Outlet banners primarily in the states of Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. This segment?s conventional grocery stores offer a range of grocery products and services, such as fresh meat counters, delicatessens, bakeries, eat-in cafes, pharmacies, banks, and floral departments, as well as provide check cashing, fax services, and money transfer services. As of December 31, 2011, the company served 93 retail stores operating under the IGA banner and 50 retail stores under the Food Pride banner; and operated 43 conventional supermarkets, 1 AVANZA grocery store, 1 Wholesale Food Outlet grocery store, and 1 Saver?s Choice store. Nash-Finch Company was founded in 1885 and is based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jeremy Bowman]

  What: Shares of Nash-Finch (NASDAQ: NAFC  ) and Spartan Stores (NASDAQ: SPTN  ) jumped as much as 16% and 15%, respectively, after Spartan said it would buy Nash-Finch, primarily for its military stores.