WhiteWave Foods Co (WWAV) Likely to be Acquired by Beverage Company, Price Target Up

WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV) and their collection of plant-based and organic products are a likely takeover target according to a research report released this morning by analysts at Stifel Nicolaus. Analyst Jim Cramer briefly discussed the report on CNBC this morning.

“Stifel suggests that Whitewave, WWAV, a stock I like very much, we’ve had Gregg Engles (WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV)’s Chairman and CEO) on the show; will be taken over, by a beverage company. They do plant-based beverages, whoever buys them will instantly become a lot more natural and organic,” Cramer said.

Along with the report, Stifel upgraded their price target on WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV) to $41.00 from $35.00. They suspect an acquisition, which they believe is a 50/50 proposition at this point, will pay out $49.00 to shareholders.

The report suggested that WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV)’s product line, which includes their Horizon organic milk brand, their Silk brand of dairy alternative beverages, and their Alpro brand of plant-based foods and beverages, are extremely tempting to many larger food companies. As the majority of WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV)’s product line is beverages, a large beverage company is considered the prime player to make a move for them.

The report of a possible takeover in WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV)’s future comes just days after another organic food company, Annies Inc (NYSE:BNNY) was snatched up by General Mills, Inc. (NYSE:GIS). That deal was worth $820 million in cash at $46 per share.  The news of that deal sent WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV)’s own stock up over 3% in early trading the next day, and it finished the day up more than 2%.

Despite the optimistic report from Stifel this morning, WhiteWave Foods Co (NYSE:WWAV) is currently down slightly today after morning trading. It has soared more than 60% year-to-date, and currently stands at $37.00 even.

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