The Story
James Lewis Kraft was born in 1874 in Ontario, Canada and was the second of the 11 children brought up with strong Christian influence of his Mennonite parents. In 1903 James Kraft started the business of selling cheese door to door but was on the brink of bankruptcy with $65 in capital. That is when James realized he had left God out of his life and business. After repentence, took God into partnership and began to tithe, things got better and kept on getting better. The company he founded was named Kraft Cheese Company in 1924 and began series of acquisition and became the 3rd largest dairy company in United States in 1930. The company today, Kraft Foods(KFT) is known as the company behind peanut butter, kitchup, salad dressings, mayonnaise, and Oreo chocolate chips.
James L. Kraft devoated 25% of his income to Christian causes for many years. His famous quote reads "The only investment I ever made which has paid consistently increasing dividends is the money I have given to the Lord." This is just what Mattew 6:20 says "But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal."
The Company and the Stock
Kraft Food today is the second largest food company of the world with 97,000 employees and generating $40 billion in revenue each year. The stock KFT is listed on NYSE and is one of the Dow Jones Industrial Average component with $51.8 billion dollars in market capital. The stock pays dividend yield of 3.9% and is traded at a relatively low P/E of 10.82. On paper this is a great stock to invest for the long term. And looking at the company's Code of Conduct and see the company's core value is "trust", Christian investors are putting the money in the honest hands. Some of the key rules in the Code of Conduct are:
- Make food that is safe to eat
- Market responsibly
- Treat people fairly
- Compete fairly
- Deal honestly with the government
- Keep honest books and records
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