Unilever PLC (UL)

On his radar as a potential investment. It has a big emerging market exposure that has been weak lately, but it spells potential to him.

A very good company. Feels they over expanded into places like Asia with the hope that they would actually deliver huge growth for them. That has not happened, which has really hurt them. They have to cut back on the actual number of products that they have. Margins have been squeezed over the last little while.

This is one of those big yielding stocks. It’s international. Stock has been dropping and if you can’t take the pain, put a Stop on it. This should go with the market and the market should be better in the winter time.

This is the play on the emerging middle class. 57%-58% of their sales are in emerging/frontier markets. The 3^rd biggest consumer products company globally. Because of this, it is able to grow its top line 5%-7%. CEO is getting rid of the smaller brands in order to concentrate on the million-dollar brands. This is one that you Buy, stick it in your bottom drawer, and take it out in 5 years. You will have done very well. Reasonable yield of about 3.5%.

Nice dividend of 3.5%, but like a lot of other consumer staples names, it is pretty richly valued, especially given its history. Feels Procter & Gamble (PG-N) is a bit cheaper. Better yet, he would look at CVS Health (CVS-N). (See Top Picks)

(A Top Pick Sept 10/13. Up 15.66%.) Likes this more for the emerging market growth. About 57% of revenues come from emerging markets. Even though the stock has done relatively well, it has actually lagged this rally because of their emerging market exposure. Likes the secular long-term trend. Management has repositioned the company by decreasing their food exposure and increasing their personal care, which has higher margins. Provides a yield of about 3.8%. If you don’t own, you could start picking at it here.

Outside North America this is what you grow up on. Emerging markets have slowed and developed markets have recovered. This is a dividend increasing story. They buy back shares as well. 3.7% dividend.

(Top Pick Aug 16/13, Up 13.07%) It has underperformed somewhat. It is her only large cap consumer stables company. Emerging market demand has weakened. Their organic growth abroad is slowing. However they are maintaining their margins. This is the time to buy it.

Chart shows a consolidation from April to August, followed by a breakout at around $43. 1^st resistance would be $46. From there he will watch it carefully and if it keeps going, will continue to own it.

This is in the category of a long-term, core holding for a lot of global fund managers. A 20 year chart for this company looks like an escalator. Return is about 12% per year. About 55% of the business comes from emerging markets, and management is looking to grow that more and more over time. Has a collection of very strong brands with over 400 brands in their portfolio, and 25 of them are equal to 70% of sales. Nice dividend yield of 3.8%.

Have done a very good job over the last several years of analyzing their product range and bringing down those numbers. Owned a lot of products that were not giving them a great return on capital so they sold a lot of those off. Went into emerging markets and realized they were not going to make as much of a return on capital that they wanted, so they backed away. Got rid of a lot of non-core products, and concentrated on some big names that they really liked, and have grown that and have been able to increase margins on those products.

Has owned this since 1997. Dividend growth has been in the 10% range. Have exposure to emerging markets. India is their big market. Had some cost overruns, but really what they’ve focused on in the last few years is to get rid of non-core assets that are not making the big margins. Sticking with Dove and ice cream which have high margins and big demands. This is a company that you can pick away at and dollar cost average to your hearts content, because it is a solid international consumer products company that continues to grow.

Up until the breakdown of the emerging-market currencies, this was a stellar performer. Went sideways for a while and has only started moving up recently. If you want exposure to emerging markets, this is a good company but a little rich right now.

One of the global great consumer product companies. Not a cheap stock. Solid dividend and a rising dividend yield. This company has huge exposure to many interesting areas including emerging markets and many good niche areas.

There are many on the street that are bullish on this company. It’s a steady company, well managed and has decent margins. Regarding household product companies, he prefers Nestlés (NESN-SIX) which he feels has better growth prospects.