Is McCormick (MKC) A Smart Long-Term Buy?

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management firm, published its “Sustainability Leaders Strategy” third quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. The ClearBridge Sustainability Leaders Strategy outperformed its Russell 3000 Index benchmark during the third quarter. On an absolute basis, the Strategy had gains in six of 10 sectors in which it was invested (out of 11 sectors total). You can take a look at the fund’s top 5 holdings to have an idea about their best picks for 2021.

ClearBridge Sustainability Leaders Strategy, in its Q3 2021 investor letter, mentioned McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE: MKC) and discussed its stance on the firm. McCormick & Company, Incorporated is a Baltimore, Maryland-based food company with a $25.5 billion market capitalization. MKC delivered a -0.82% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are up by 1.95%. The stock closed at $95.82 per share on January 03, 2022

Here is what ClearBridge Sustainability Leaders Strategy has to say about McCormick & Company, Incorporated  in its Q3 2021 investor letter:

“Within consumer staples, we sold out of Unilever, a great company and sustainability leader that we believe faces margin headwinds as it invests to promote growth, and replaced it with McCormick, a leader in food seasonings and flavors. McCormick is a high-quality business that has lagged recently due to the negative COVID-19 impacts on the business, which provided us with an attractive entry point. The company is also levered to the healthy eating trend, as seasonings are a healthier substitute for sugar and fat.”

Photo by Andra Ion on Unsplash

Based on our calculations, McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE: MKC) was not able to clinch a spot in our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. MKC was in 35 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2021, compared to 34 funds in the previous quarter. McCormick & Company, Incorporated (NYSE: MKC) delivered an 18.75% return in the past 3 months.

In October 2021, we published an article that includes MKC in the Top 10 Stock Picks of Terry Smith’s Fundsmith LLP. You can find more than 100 investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q3 page.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.