Tigress Financial Partners' Latest Ratings on WhiteWave Foods, The Coca-Cola Co, PepsiCo

Tigress Financial Partners commented on food and beverage companies Monday

Analyst Philip Van Deusen upgraded WhiteWave Foods Co WWAV from Buy to Strong Buy following positive Q4 results with a 34 percent growth in sales.

Broad-based sales growth was seen across the company’s four major brands, according to Van Deusen.  The growth trends were “indicative of the strength of WWAV’s brands in the organic/natural food space” and were driving accelerated “Economic Profit performance metrics.”

The company’s larger competitors have failed to resonate with consumers amid the growth in organic food products, which led Van Deusen to suggest that an acquisition of the company could be pursued so that a buyer could “gain an immediate foothold in the organic/natural space with the addition of the WWAV’s premier brands.”

WhiteWave Foods Co recently traded at $40.67, down 1.36 percent.

Analyst Ivan Feinseth reiterated a Buy rating on The Coca-Cola Co KO.

Feinseth suggested that the company had “hidden profitability.” The firm’s “calculation for EBITDAR Margin is higher than GAAP accounting would indicate because we classify advertising and promotion costs as investments instead of expenses.”

The analyst noted that the company’s marketing investment increased approximately10 percent in 2014 and was seen “positively as a creator of future Economic Profit and eventually leading to share price appreciation.”

Feinseth pointed out that “despite having the worst sales growth compared to Pepsi and Dr. Pepper-Snapple, KO exceeds its rivals on all other profitability metrics including Economic Profit Margin, EBITDAR Margin, NOPAT Margin, and, most importantly, Acceleration in Economic Profit.”

The Coca-Cola Co recently traded at $41.84, down 0.31 percent.

Feinseth also reiterated a Neutral rating on PepsiCo, Inc. PEP and continued to favor Coca-Cola over PepsiCo based on performance and valuation.

The analyst also believed “that a split up [PepsiCo’s] food and beverage segments would unlock significant shareholder value because of the lack of synergies amongst the two segments.”

The analyst note also indicated that adverse currency and oil fluctuations have put pressure on Europe and Russia, however, these were partially offset by low oil price in the U.S.

PepsiCo, Inc. recently traded at $99.22, up 0.16 percent.