Top 10 Consumer Companies To Own For 2014

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The retail space is in the midst of the biggest paradigm shift since mail order took off at the turn of last century. Only the most forward-looking and capable companies will survive, and they'll handsomely reward investors who understand the landscape. You can read about the 3 Companies Ready to Rule Retail in The Motley Fool's special report. Uncovering these top picks is free today; just click here to read more.

Best Cheapest Companies To Buy Right Now: Oxford Industries Inc.(OXM)

Oxford Industries, Inc. engages in designing, sourcing, and marketing apparel products primarily in the United States and the United Kingdom. The company?s apparel products comprise a portfolio of company-owned lifestyle brands, as well as company-owned and licensed brands of tailored clothing and golf apparel. Its owned and licensed brands include Tommy Bahama, Lilly Pulitzer, Ben Sherman, Billy London, Oxford Golf, Nickelson, and Arnold Brant. The company also holds licenses to produce and sell various categories of apparel products under the Kenneth Cole, Dockers, and Geoffrey Beene brand names. Its primary product line includes the Tommy Bahama brand men's and women's sportswear and related products for affluent men and women with age of 35 and older; the Lilly Pulitzer brand women's and girl's dresses, sportswear, and other products for young women, young mothers and their daughters, and women; the Ben Sherman brand men's sportswear and related products for men ages 25 to 40; and branded and private label men's suits, sport coats, suit separates, and dress slacks. In addition, the company licenses its Tommy Bahama, Lilly Pulitzer, and Ben Sherman brand names for various products categories, including apparel, accessories, footwear, watches, jewelry, luggage, rugs, wall coverings, fragrances and toiletries, shampoos and soaps, gift products, furniture, ceiling fans, stationery, bedding and home fashions, and table top accessories. Further, it operates restaurants under the Tommy Bahama brand name. It distributes company-owned lifestyle branded products through department stores, specialty stores, company-owned and licensed retail stores, and its e-commerce Websites; and branded and private label tailored clothing products through department stores, specialty stores, national chains, specialty catalogs, mass merchants, and Internet retailers. Oxford Industries, Inc. was founded in 1942 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Lauren Pollock]

  Oxford Industries Inc.'s(OXM) fiscal third-quarter earnings fell 70% despite continued sales growth at the apparel company’s Tommy Bahama and Lilly Pulitzer brands.

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Oxford Industries (NYSE: OXM  ) will release its quarterly report on Tuesday, and investors have stayed optimistic about the apparel company's prospects, bidding the shares to all-time record highs in the past few months. With expectations for growth in Oxford earnings so high, though, investors need to be careful not to let the company's stock price get ahead of its fundamental business prospects.

• [By Mike Deane]

  After the bell on Tuesday, Oxford Industries (OXM) announced its second quarter earnings, posting a 14% increase in net sales from last year’s same quarter.

  The Atlanta, GA-based apparel company announced second quarter consolidated net sales of $235 million, which were up from last year’s Q2 figure of $206.9 million. The company’s EPS, on an adjusted basis, came in at $1.01, a 55% increase from last year’s 65 cents.

  Oxford Industries beat analysts’ Q2 EPS estimates of 98 cents, but missed the analyst revenue consensus of $243.5 million.

  Looking forward to full-year 2013, Oxford Industries lowered its EPS guidance to a range of $2.90 to $3.05. This comes in below the analysts’ consensus of $3.12.

  OXM shares were up 86 cents, or 1.33%, at the end of trading on Tuesday. YTD the stock is up more than 40%.

Top 10 Consumer Companies To Own For 2014: International Flavors & Fragrances Inc (IFF)

International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. (IFF), incorporated on December 6, 1909, creates, manufactures and supplies flavors and fragrances for the food, beverage, personal care and household products industries. The Company operates in two business segments: Flavors and Fragrances. Its Flavors business includes four categories of products: Savory, Beverages, Sweet, pharmaceutical and oral care (Sweet), and Dairy. Its Fragrances business consists of Fragrance Compounds and Fragrance Ingredients. The Company has 29 manufacturing sites around the world that support more than 36,000 products. Its manufacturing facilities are located in the United States, the Netherlands, Spain, Great Britain, Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan and Singapore. In January 2014, International Flavors & Fragrances Inc. completed the acquisition of Aromor Flavors and Fragrances Ltd.

Flavors

The Company�� Flavors business is regional in nature, with different formulas that reflect local taste and ingredients. It produces flavors, which are used in soups, sauces, condiments, prepared meals, meat and poultry, and potato chips and other savory snacks. The Company creates flavors for juice drinks, carbonated beverages, flavored waters and spirits. The Company creates flavor concepts and heat-stable flavors for bakery products, as well as candy, chewing gum and cereal. For pharmaceutical and oral care products, it produces flavors for products, such as toothpaste and mouthwash and to create flavors that work while masking the active ingredients. The Company offers a range of value-added compounded flavors for all dairy applications, including yogurt, ice cream, cheese, cream and butter flavor. The Company also offers a range of vanilla extracts and a variety of flavor solutions that build on its understanding of vanilla. It is also developing flavor profiles in its CulinEssence program to bring culinary flavors to its customers.

Fragrances

The ! Company within its Beauty Care product line provides its customers products in the hair care, toiletries and skincare categories. The Company has three subcategories of products, in which its fragrances are included Fabric Care, including laundry detergents, fabric softeners and specialty laundry products; Personal Wash, including bar soap and shower gel, and Home Care, including household cleaners, dishwashing detergents and air fresheners. It manufactures fragrance ingredients for internal use by its perfumers in its Fragrances business and for external use by its customers and other third parties, including its competitors. The Company manufactures its ingredients through its global network of production facilities.

The Company competes with Givaudan, Firmenich and Symrise.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Seth Jayson]

  When judging a company's prospects, how quickly it turns cash outflows into cash inflows can be just as important as how much profit it's booking in the accounting fantasy world we call "earnings." This is one of the first metrics I check when I'm hunting for the market's best stocks. Today, we'll see how it applies to International Flavors & Fragrances (NYSE: IFF  ) .

Top 10 Consumer Companies To Own For 2014: Tesco PLC (TSCDY)

Tesco PLC, incorporated on November 27, 1947, is engaged in retailing and associated activities in the United Kingdom, China, the Czech Republic, Hungary, the Republic of Ireland, India, Malaysia, Poland, Slovakia, South Korea, Thailand and Turkey. The Company also provides retail banking and insurance services through its subsidiary, Tesco Bank. The Company�� operations in the United Kingdom is the within the Company, with over 3,000 stores. The Company�� in-store picking model is complemented by a small number of specialized dotcom-only stores, which allow the Company to respond to customer demand. The Company�� Click & Collect service is a part of its multichannel offering and enables customers to pick up their shopping when and where it suits them. It has over 1,500 Click & Collect collection points for general merchandise and over 150 Grocery Drive-thrus in the United Kingdom.

The Company�� operations in India include sourcing and its service centre, as well as a franchise arrangement with Tata Group. The Company�� Hindustan Service Centre (HSC) is the global services arm for Tesco worldwide, providing business services for Tesco operations globally. Tesco HSC is engaged in creating and executing strategic initiatives covering information technology (IT), Financial, Commercial and Property, among others. The Company also provides 80% of the stock sold by Star Bazaar, both food and non-food, sourced through its distribution centre in Mumbai. This distribution centre also provides wholesale products to traditional Indian retailers, kirana stores, restaurants and other businesses, providing small farmers and other suppliers with a way to sell their wares to the local market.

The Company has an online business and 22 of virtual stores in South Korean subways and bus stops, which help time-pressed customers, shop on-the-go using their smartphones. Tesco Lotus is its international business, serving over 11 million customers every week in over 1,400 stores. Tesco Bank! offer a range of simple personal banking products, principally-mortgages, credit cards, personal loans, and savings.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Roland Head]

  Today, I'm going to take a look at the PE10 for�Tesco� (LSE: TSCO  ) (NASDAQOTH: TSCDY  ) .

  Tesco keeps getting cheaper
  Tesco's share price is down by more than 9% from its mid-May peak, although the FTSE 100 has only fallen by 5.9%. Tesco's underperformance is mainly due to a downbeat interim statement last week, which showed that U.K. like-for-like sales fell by 1% in the first quarter of this year.

Top 10 Consumer Companies To Own For 2014: San Miguel Brewery Hong Kong Ltd (MBR)

San Miguel Brewery Hong Kong Limited is a Hong Kong-based company engaged in the manufacture and distribution of bottled, canned and draught beers. The Company operates in two segments: The Hong Kong operation mainly represents the manufacture and distribution of own brewed beer products and distribution of imported beer products in Hong Kong and overseas, and the mainland China operation mainly represents the manufacture and distribution of own brewed beer products in the southern part of the People�� Republic of China and overseas. Its subsidiaries include Best Investments International Inc., Hongkong Brewery Limited, Ravelin Limited, San Miguel (Guangdong) Limited, Guangzhou San Miguel Brewery Company Limited, San Miguel Shunde Holdings Limited and San Miguel (Guangdong) Brewery Company Limited. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Geoffrey Seiler]

  This was a solid quarter from Aetna, highlighted by much stronger-than-expected results from its Commercial and Medicaid segments. The rebound in the Medicaid medical benefits ratio (MBR) was particularly notable.

Top 10 Consumer Companies To Own For 2014: Navistar International Corporation (NAV)

Navistar International Corporation, through its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells commercial and military trucks, buses, diesel engines, and recreational vehicles, as well as provides service parts for trucks and trailers worldwide. The company operates in four segments: Truck, Engine, Parts, and Financial Services. The Truck segment manufactures and distributes trucks and buses for the common carrier, private carrier, government, leasing, construction, energy/petroleum, military vehicles, and student and commercial transportation markets under the International and IC brands; assembles components; and produces sheet metal components, including truck cabs. This segment markets its products through its independent dealer network, and distribution and service network retail outlets comprising 784 in the United States and Canada, 86 in Mexico, and 292 internationally, as well as markets reconditioned used trucks to owner-operators and fleet buyers through its network of us ed truck centers. The Engine segment designs, manufactures, and sells diesel engines under the MaxxForce brand for use in the medium trucks, heavy trucks, and military vehicles, as well as for its IC branded school buses and other applications. The Parts segment provides customers with products required to support the company�s brands, as well as offers other truck, trailer, and engine service parts. The Financial Services segment provides and manages retail, wholesale, and lease financing services for products sold by the Truck and Parts segments and their dealers. It also operates as a private-label designer and manufacturer of diesel engines for the pickup truck, van, and sport utility vehicle markets. Navistar International Corporation was founded in 1902 and is headquartered in Lisle, Illinois.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dave Paterson]

  One unfortunate drawback is that sometimes the market price may be higher or lower than the Net Asset Value (NAV) of the underlying basket of securities.

• [By Neha Chamaria]

  Yet the excitement might fizzle out next week, if analyst estimates of a 10% drop in PACCAR's second-quarter earnings per share on 7% lower revenue come true. Industry sales figures for big trucks were mixed in the past quarter, with two months of gains interspersed with one month of decline. Moreover, peer Navistar International (NYSE: NAV  ) reported a sharp 23% dip in revenue for the second quarter, driven largely by lower truck and engine volumes.

• [By Roberto Pedone]

   

  Another industrial player that insiders are snapping up a large amount of stock in here is Navistar International (NAV), which is a manufacturer of commercial and military trucks buses, diesel engines, and recreational vehicles under the Monaco RV family of brands, as well as a provider of service parts for all makes of trucks and trailers. Insiders are buying this stock into big time strength, since shares are up 67% so far in 2013.

  Navistar International has a market cap of $2.9 billion and an enterprise value of $6.4 billion. This stock trades at a premium valuation, with a forward price-to-earnings of 50.50. Its estimated growth rate for this year is 7.2%, and for next year it's pegged at 107.1%. This is not a cash-rich company, since the total cash position on its balance sheet is $1.09 billion and its total debt is $4.72 billion.

  A director just bought 415,101 shares, or about $14.12 million worth of stock, at $33.90 per share.

  From a technical perspective, NAV is currently trending above both its 50-day and 200-day moving averages, which is bullish. This stock recently started to break out above its sideways consolidation pattern after shares cleared $35 to $35.90 a share. That move is now pushing shares of NAV within range of triggering another near-term breakout trade.

  If you're in the bull camp on NAV, then look for long-biased trades as long as this stock is trending above $35 to $34, and then once it breaks out above some near-term overhead resistance levels at $37 to its 52-week high at $38.81 a share with high volume. Look for a sustained move or close above those levels with volume that hits near or above its three-month average action of 1.21 million shares. If that breakout triggers soon, then NAV will set up to enter new 52-week high territory, which is bullish technical price action. Some possible upside targets off that move are $43 to $48 a share.

Top 10 Consumer Companies To Own For 2014: Neenah Paper Inc. (NP)

Neenah Paper, Inc. produces technical products and fine papers worldwide. The company�s Technical Products segment provides filtration media for applications in automotive transportation; saturated and unsaturated crepe and flat paper tapes to manufacturers; lightweight abrasive paper for waterproof and dry sanding applications; wall covering substrates to converters serving commercial and consumer-do-it-yourself markets; label and tag products to pressure sensitive coaters; latex saturated and coated papers; premask, medical packaging, image transfer, and decorative components papers; and other products, such as clean room papers, durable printing papers, release papers, and furniture backers. Its Fine Paper segment manufactures and sells writing papers used for business and personal stationery, corporate identity packages, and related end-use applications; text and cover papers and envelopes used in corporate brochures, pocket folders, corporate annual reports, advertis ing inserts, direct mail, business cards, hang tags, scrapbooks, and various other uses; custom colors, paper finishes, and duplex/laminated papers; and bright papers used in direct mail, advertising inserts, scrapbooks, and marketing collateral applications. This segment also offers other specialty papers for various applications in wine labels and luxury packaging, as well as specialty paper products for enhanced image, such as translucent and art papers, papers for optical scanning, and other specialized applications. Neenah Paper, Inc. markets its products primarily under the JET-PRO, SofStretch, KIMDURA, MUNISING LP, PREVAIL, NEENAH, GESSNER, varitess, CLASSIC, CLASSIC CREST, ESSE ENVIRONMENT, ROYAL SUNDANCE, ASTROBRIGHTS, EXACT BRIGHTS, CAPITOL BOND, CRANE'S BOND, and CRANE'S LETTRA brands. The company sells its products through authorized paper distributors, converters, and direct sales. Neenah Paper, Inc. was founded in 2004 and is headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgi a.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  Specialty-paper maker�Neenah Paper� (NYSE: NP  ) �announced yesterday�its third-quarter dividend of $0.20 per share, a�33% increase over the $0.15 per-share payout made last quarter, and comes quickly on the heels of a 25% dividend hike it made with the first-quarter payout.

• [By Marc Bastow]

  Fine paper manufacturer and distributor Neenah Paper (NP) raised its quarterly dividend 20% to 24 cents per share, payable on Mar. 4 to shareholders of record as of Feb. 14.
  NP Dividend Yield: 2.41%

• [By Tannor Pilatzke]

  Neenah Paper (NP) Spin-off in 2004

  Neenah Paper was named after the Kimberly Clark headquarters in Wisconsin and has two primary operations: technical products business and fine paper business. The Company�� technical products business is a producer of transportation and other filter media and coated substrates for industrial products backings and a variety of other end markets. The Company�� fine paper business is the supplier of writing, text and cover papers, bright papers and specialty papers in North America. The Company�� writing, text, cover and specialty papers are used in commercial printing and imaging applications for corporate identity packages, invitations, personal stationery and corporate annual reports, as well as, labels and packaging.

Top 10 Consumer Companies To Own For 2014: Nestle SA (NESN)

Nestle SA is a Swiss Company engaged in the nutrition, health and wellness sectors. It is the holding company of the Nestle Group, which comprises subsidiaries, associated companies and joint ventures throughout the world. It has such business units as Food and Beverage, Nestle Waters and Nestle Nutrition. It is also active in the pharmaceutical sector. It divides its products into Powdered and liquid beverages, Water, Milk products and Ice cream, Nutrition, Prepared dishes and cooking aids, Confectionery, PetCare and Pharmaceutical products. In February 2011, the Company acquired CM&D Pharma Ltd. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Celeste Perri]

  Nestle SA (NESN) is selling Givaudan (GIVN) SA shares worth $1.27 billion at yesterday�� closing price to institutional investors, winding down its stake in the world�� largest flavorings maker.