Gluttony Amidst The Market Gloom

The S&P 500 (NYSE: SPY) may be down a few percentage points since topping out in January, but some stocks out there couldn't care a fig. Below we list four stocks that have gone from strength to strength recently, posting new 52 week highs as late as last week. (Technical analysts have designed several indicators to grade the underlying momentum created by events driving the market. See Market Breadth: 52-Week Highs/Lows.) They're all food-related issues, which makes us wonder: is more than just risk appetite on the rise these days? Or is America bidding up its favorite munchie producers to fend off this winter's record cold? Read on and fill up.

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Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE: CMG) stock is up over 90% in the last 12 months and over 10% since the beginning of last week. The company operates 837 Mexican fast-food restaurants across the United States and has a market capitalization of $3.3 billion. (Find out the difference between mega-, large-, mid- and small-cap stocks. We show how each suits particular investing styles in Market Capitalization Defined.)

Chipotle's sales have improved at better than 26% a year for the last five years, and earnings per share (EPS) came in at better than 75% a year over the same period. Chipotle stock pays no dividend.

Bread Maker Earning Big Dough
Panera Bread (Nasdaq: PNRA) shares have been cooking up new 52-week highs consistently since the first week in December. In the last year, the stock leavened by more than 56%. Sales have grown at a 23% rate for the last five years, and EPS growth reports in at 17% for that time frame.

Panera operates more than 1,200 bakery-cafes across the U.S., mostly in suburban strip-mall venues.

TreeHouse Foods (NYSE: THS) stock climbed nearly 50% in the last 12 months' trade and posted new highs for the year last week. The company is in the process of acquiring Sturm Foods in a deal costing $660 million. TreeHouse stock has posted impressive EPS gains in the last year of more than 173%.

TreeHouse is in the commercial food manufacturing business, producing a broad range of products, from jams and sauces to soups and salad dressings.

The Old Lady's Still Cooking!
Sara Lee (NYSE: SLE) is a global food manufacturing giant with principal distribution and marketing channels in North America and Europe. The company's shares have been hitting regular new highs since late September 2009.

Sara Lee has a history of more than 50 years in the cakes and pastry business. EPS growth for the last year was remarkable as the company bounced back from a 2008 loss of $79 million to a positive net income of $364 milllion!

The Wrap
What's cooking with the food stocks? Sometimes it's better not to ask questions. When long-term growth is this tasty, you just load up your plate and eat. (Trim the fat from your grocery bill to reduce the impact of food cost on your budget. Learn now by checking out 22 Ways To Fight Rising Food Prices.)

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