Top 5 Beverage Companies To Invest In 2014

If activist investor Nelson Peltz had his druthers, beverage giant PepsiCo (NYSE: PEP  ) would calve off its drinks business, and focus on just the snack-food portion by buying Mondelez (NASDAQ: MDLZ  ) .

While Pepsi management hasn't warmed up to the idea, there is some sense to what Peltz proposes, even if, as a huge shareholder in both Pepsi and Mondelez, it's a bit self-serving.

In Peltz's 59-page manifesto, the investor spells out a case of underperformance due to Pepsi's beverages unit. Pepsi, which has suffered from more than five years of negative volume growth, and more than a decade of declining per capita volume, is perennially No. 2 to Coca-Cola, which he says is a more-focused competitor with structural advantages.�

Conversely, the snack-food business already comprises two-thirds of its revenues, has the top market share in salty snacks, and is experiencing volume growth across all its business lines. By getting rid of the beverage unit, which includes Pepsi and Gatorade, it could�achieve significant increases in shareholder value worth at least $33 billion by merging the remaining snack foods business with Mondelez, whose stock has languished�since splitting from Kraft Foods Group last year.�

Top Construction Companies For 2015: Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (CCE)

Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. produces, distributes, and markets non-alcoholic beverages in Europe. It provides a range of beverage categories, including energy drinks, still and sparkling waters, juices, sports drinks, fruit drinks, coffee-based beverages, and teas. The company primarily offers its products under Coca-Cola, Diet Coke/Coke light, Fanta, Coca-Cola Zero, Capri Sun, Schweppes, Sprite, Chaudfontaine, MinuteMaid, and Dr. Pepper brands. It provides its products to customers and consumers through licensed territory agreements in Belgium, continental France, Great Britain, Luxembourg, Monaco, the Netherlands, Norway, and Sweden. Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. was founded in 1986 and is based in Atlanta, Georgia.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Dan Caplinger]

  Indeed, consumer-oriented stocks are among the weakest performers in the Dow today. Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO  ) is down 2%, likely in response to a reduced forecast from independent bottler Coca-Cola Enterprises (NYSE: CCE  ) . The bottling company said continued trouble in the European economy combined with cold, rainy weather throughout much of the region led to volume declines of 2.5% for the quarter, confirming Coca-Cola's own 4% decline in soda sales in North America that it reported last week. Coke investors need to remember that Coke, with its global operations, is not influenced by U.S.-centric consumer figures so much as domestically focused companies.

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Coca-Cola Enterprises Inc. (NYSE: CCE) was raised to the prized Conviction Buy List from Neutral with a $47 price target at Goldman Sachs, sending shares up almost 3% to $38.50 on the upgrade.

Top 5 Beverage Companies To Invest In 2014: WhiteWave Foods Co (WWAV)

WWF Operating Company, incorporated on March 14, 1988, is a consumer packaged food and beverage company. The Company manufactures, markets, distributes, and sells plant-based foods and beverages, coffee creamers and beverages, and dairy products throughout North America and Europe. The Company operates in two segments: North America and Europe. The North America segment offers products in the plant-based foods and beverages, coffee creamers and beverages, and dairy product categories throughout North America. Europe segment offers plant-based food and beverage products throughout Europe. The Company is a wholly owned subsidiary of Dean Foods Company (Dean Foods).

The Company�� brands distributed in North America include Silk plant-based foods and beverages, International Delight and LAND O LAKES coffee creamers and beverages, and Horizon Organic dairy products, while its European brands of plant-based foods and beverages include Alpro and Provamel. The Company sell its products to a variety of customers, including grocery stores, mass merchandisers, club stores, and convenience stores, as well as various away-from-home channels, including restaurants and foodservice outlets, across North America and Europe. The Company sells its products in North America and Europe primarily through its direct sales force and independent brokers. The Company utilizes five manufacturing plants, two distribution centers, and three co-packers across the United States. Additionally, it has four plants across Europe in the United Kingdom, Belgium, France, and the Netherlands, each supported by an integrated supply chain.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Duprey]

  WhiteWave Foods (NYSE: WWAV  ) , the Dean Foods spinoff whose organic products go out of their way to certify that they avoid being tainted with GMO ingredients, still sells Land o' Lakes products that contain sucralose.

• [By John Maxfield]

  Meanwhile, the worst-performing stock on the index was Dean Foods (NYSE: DF  ) , which lost more than half of its value. This otherwise disturbing performance followed the company's spinoff of its organic-foods division, WhiteWave Foods (NYSE: WWAV  ) . As fellow Fool Rich Duprey covered here, each Dean Foods shareholder received 0.25544448 shares of WhiteWave class A stock and 0.36380189 shares of its class B stock for every share of Dean Foods.

• [By Johanna Bennett]

  Norfolk Southern (NSC), Toll Brothers (TOL) and J.C. Penney Co. (JCP) are just some of the stocks moving during today’s market action:�Here�� a rundown:

• [By Chris Dieterich]

  In food, Morgan Stanley suggests that WhiteWave Foods (WWAV), which makes products such organic dairy and almond milks, might benefit from “consumers��ability to’��rade up’ out of conventional foods.” The same principle applies to Texas Roadhouse (TXRH).

Top 5 Beverage Companies To Invest In 2014: Remy Cointreau SA (RCO)

Remy Cointreau SA is a France-based company engaged in the production and distribution of wines and spirits. The Company's activities are divided into two segments. Cognac, which offers a range of products under the Remy Martin brand and Liqueurs and Spirits, distributing liquors under the Cointreau, Izarra and Passoa brand names, as well as spirits under such brand names as Mount Gay (rum), St Remy (brandy), Ponche Kuna (rum) and Metaxa (brandy). The Company is a sole distributor of the Piper-Heidsieck and Charles Heidsieck brands, as well as Piper Sonoma (the sparkling wine brand). The Company's subsidiaries include production companies, such as E. Remy Martin & Cie, and distribution companies, such as Remy Cointreau USA Inc. In August 2013, it completed the sale of Larsen Cognac to the Finnish group Altia. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Inyoung Hwang]

  EasyJet Plc and International Consolidated Airlines Group SA climbed as oil prices fell after the U.S. and Russia agreed on a plan to destroy Syrian chemical weapons. Hennes & Mauritz AB (HMB) advanced to a three-year high after sales topped estimates. Remy Cointreau SA (RCO) soared the most in almost four years as Chinese cognac shipments increased.

• [By Inyoung Hwang]

  Remy Cointreau SA (RCO) jumped 6 percent, the most since January. Chinese cognac shipments increased 20.5 percent in August, rising for the first time since January, according to UBS AG, citing from BNIC, a trade association of cognac makers.

• [By Jonathan Morgan]

  European stocks dropped, following a two-day gain, as Remy Cointreau SA (RCO) and Pernod Ricard SA dragged food-and-beverage makers lower. U.S. index futures and Asian shares were little changed.

Top 5 Beverage Companies To Invest In 2014: Suntory Beverage & Food Ltd (STBFY)

Suntory Beverage & Food Limited is principally engaged in the manufacture and sale of beverages and food. The Company operates in two geographical segments. The Domestic segment is engaged in the manufacture and sale of various soft drinks within Japan, such as coffee drinks, mineral water, green tea drinks, tea drinks, carbonated drinks, fruit juice drinks, functional beverages, milk beverages, and food for specified health use, as well as syrup for general and business usage. The International segment is engaged in the manufacture and sale of carbonated drinks, fruit juice drinks, health food, seasoning, tea-based beverages and others, with operations in Europe, Oceania, Asia and the Americas. As of May 29, 2013, the Company had 80 subsidiaries and 10 associated companies. On October 15, 2013, the Company acquired Lucozade Ribena Suntory Limited. On December 12, 2013, the Company acquired Suntory Beverage & Food Europe Limited. Advisors' Opinion:

• [By John Udovich]

  Whiskey has become increasingly cool and popular thanks to the whole cocktail movement, something that�� good for big whiskey stocks like Suntory Beverage & Food Limited (OTCMKTS: STBFY), Diageo plc (NYSE: DEO) and Brown-Forman Corporation (NYSE: BF.B) who�also produce a wide variety of�liquors and beverages. In fact,�a recent episode of the�Daily Ticker�cited these stats from a USA Today article:

• [By Charles Sizemore]

  Let�� start with Suntory Beverage & Food Limited (STBFY),which recently completed its acquisition of�Beam Inc., formerly the purest play on bourbon. Beam was the owner of the eponymous Jim Beam brand, as well as the higher-end Maker�� Mark and Knob Creek and the lower-end Old Crow.�Suntory is Japan�� leading spirits company, though most Americans will be unfamiliar with its Japanese whisky brands, such as Yamazaki and Hakushu. (Note for booze snobs: Japanese whisky��ike Scotch and Canadian whisky��s correctly spelled ��hisky.��American bourbon, Tennessee whiskey and Irish whiskey are correctly spelled ��hiskey.��