Conagra

ConAgra, a member of the NYSE, is a special member of the stock market community. Its name, which is an acronym for ‘Consolidated Agriculture’, says much about how this company stands apart from most of the rest of the stock market. Of the stock market listed companies from the industrial and service sectors, some also deal in grains, sugar and other pure agricultural commodities. However, it is ConAgra which has an interesting and successful business model, combining the best of farm productivity, industrial processes, and customer service.

Though most companies achieve the best stock market results by concentrating on one sector of the economy, ConAgra excels in scale on all of them! The range of its product categories means that it is involved in a very broad spectrum of agricultural products. It is a major buyer of grain, meat, horticultural, and specialized crops. Such activity calls for an expertise of its own, because agricultural commodity prices and supplies can vary so widely.

A striking feature of ConAgra, for stock market observers, is the amazing number of brands which it owns. Many of them represent substantial investments, because they have been externally acquired after achieving critical mass in the hands of their original developers. Stock market investors could be excused for thinking that a company such as ConAgra, with its pastoral background, would fail in maintaining urban consumer brands. Nothing could be further from the truth! ConAgra has made a thundering success of every brand it owns, and some of them have been favorites for more than one generation!

Industrial marketing is a field of its own as far as most stock market members go. Most industrial marketers with successful stock market records have faltered on integrating forward to serve consumers directly. ConAgra sets a new standard, by combining both consumer and industrial marketing in one comprehensive stock market package. The company’s share holders can look forward to profits, not just from retail outlets, but from professional catering restaurants and from restaurant chains, which ConAgra serves with equal aplomb.

ConAgra has paid quarterly dividends for over 100 successive time periods. This Omaha, Nebraska Company, with humble beginnings in grain and flour at the start of the 20th century, has grown in to a treasure of food values, and shows every indication of having a bright future.

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