Campbell Soup shares could be a bargain after decline: Barron's

[March 12, 2018]  (Reuters) - Campbell Soup Co <CPB.N> faces challenges but with its shares the cheapest they have been in years, the stock may be a bargain, Barron's said in an article on Sunday.

Campbell faces a grocery war. Walmart Inc <WMT.N>, Amazon.com Inc <AMZN.O>, dollar stores like Dollar General Corp <DG.N> and drugstores like CVS Health Corp <CVS.N> are vying to take share from traditional grocers, according to the article.

A recent squabble with Walmart over soup promotions cut into Campbell's sales, but Barron's said the grocery war was also a sales opportunity since Campbell plans to expand distribution through dollar stores and drugstores.

Campbell is expected to grow revenue by a fraction of 1 percent in its fiscal year through July, while increasing earnings per share by 2 percent, Barron's said.

With shares trading below $42 earlier this month, their lowest since 2014, Barron's noted, "The discount on shares may be too large to ignore." Campbell shares closed at $43.61 on Friday.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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