Dr Pepper Snapple Group Inc. (DPS): Today's Featured Food & Beverage Laggard

Editor's Note: TheStreet ratings do not represent the views of TheStreet's staff or its contributors. Ratings are established by computer based on metrics for performance (which includes growth, stock performance, efficiency and valuation) and risk (volatility and solvency). Companies with poor cash flow or high debt levels tend to earn lower ratings in our model.

Dr Pepper Snapple Group ( DPS) pushed the Food & Beverage industry lower today making it today's featured Food & Beverage laggard. The industry as a whole was unchanged today. By the end of trading, Dr Pepper Snapple Group fell $1.44 (-3.3%) to $42.61 on heavy volume. Throughout the day, 3.8 million shares of Dr Pepper Snapple Group exchanged hands as compared to its average daily volume of 1.3 million shares. The stock ranged in price between $42.46-$43.58 after having opened the day at $43.34 as compared to the previous trading day's close of $44.05. Other companies within the Food & Beverage industry that declined today were: Central European Distribution ( CEDC), down 7.2%, MGP Ingredients ( MGPI), down 5.4%, Crumbs Bake Shop ( CRMB), down 4%, and Tianli Agritech ( OINK), down 3.5%.
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Dr Pepper Snapple Group, Inc. engages in the ownership, manufacture, and distribution of non-alcoholic beverages in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean. Dr Pepper Snapple Group has a market cap of $9.33 billion and is part of the consumer goods sector. The company has a P/E ratio of 15.9, equal to the average food & beverage industry P/E ratio and below the S&P 500 P/E ratio of 17.7. Shares are up 11.6% year to date as of the close of trading on Tuesday. Currently there are four analysts that rate Dr Pepper Snapple Group a buy, one analyst rates it a sell, and seven rate it a hold.

TheStreet Ratings rates Dr Pepper Snapple Group as a buy. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its revenue growth, notable return on equity, attractive valuation levels, increase in stock price during the past year and growth in earnings per share. We feel these strengths outweigh the fact that the company has had generally high debt management risk by most measures that we evaluated.

For investors not wanting singular stock exposure, ETFs may be of interest. Investors who are bullish on the food & beverage industry could consider PowerShares Dynamic Food & Beverage ( PBJ) while those bearish on the food & beverage industry could consider PowerShares DB Agriculture Sht ETN ( ADZ).

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