Why Hedge Funds Consider The J. M. Smucker Company (SJM) One of the Best Coffee Stocks to Buy? - InvestingChannel

Why Hedge Funds Consider The J. M. Smucker Company (SJM) One of the Best Coffee Stocks to Buy?

We recently compiled a list of the 10 Best Coffee Stocks To Buy According to Hedge Funds. In this article, we are going to take a look at where The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) stands against the other best coffee stocks to buy according to hedge funds.

The Global Coffee Market Continues to Struggle

According to a report by Mordor Intelligence, the global coffee market size is estimated at $132.13 billion in 2024 and is expected to grow to $166.39 billion by 2029, growing at a compound annual growth rate of 4.72% during the forecast period. Over the last 2 years, coffee prices have hit multi-year peaks. Reuters reports that global coffee prices have risen to their highest in nearly 50 years. This has been the result of poor weather in Brazil and Vietnam.

Brazil produces almost half the world’s high-end beans used primarily in roast and ground blends. The country has been the victim of one of its worst droughts on record this year. While rains did come in the month of October, they might have been too late. According to farmers and agronomists, the coffee trees are unable to recover for the 2025 crop. The next crop is not expected to be big. It is believed that coffee trees that have suffered from the dryness would be using energy to produce leaves, instead of fruits, after the rain. This means that there will be barely enough energy in the crops to develop fruits after flowering.

The other major coffee producer Vietnam produces roughly 40% of the robusta beans used to make instant coffee. The country was subjected to a severe drought earlier in 2024 which was followed by excess rains since October, with the current harvest following 3 years of supply deficits.

How’s the End Market Likely to Suffer?

The soaring coffee prices are casting their impact across the value chain as they hurt roasters and cafes and eventually the customers. Consumers are expected to see the price spike in 6 to 12 months since roasters tend to buy coffee months in advance. The Nescafe and Nespresso maker Nestlé has decided to raise prices and make bags smaller with beans getting expensive. Especially for the American coffee enthusiast, imported goods such as coffee beans are likely to witness markups if the new administration decides to impose tariffs on coffee-producing countries. Before the potential price hikes from tariffs hit, many Americans are already stockpiling various goods including coffee.

A wholesaler distributing peanut butter, fruit spreads and specialty spreads to a retailer.

Our Methodology

In order to compile a list of the 10 best coffee stocks to buy according to hedge funds, we went through stock screeners, relevant ETFs, and media reports to make a list of coffee stocks. Moving on, we shortlisted the top 10  stocks from our list which had the highest number of hedge fund holders. The 10 best coffee stocks to buy according to hedge funds have been arranged in ascending order of their hedge fund holders as of Q3.

At Insider Monkey we are obsessed with the stocks that hedge funds pile into. The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM)

Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 30

The J. M. Smucker Company (NYSE:SJM) is an American manufacturer of food and beverage products. The firm has a portfolio of leading brands across coffee, dog snacks, cat food, peanut butter, fruit spreads, frozen handheld, and sweet baked goods among others.

The firm leads the U.S. at-home retail coffee category with iconic and emerging brands such as Folgers, Dunkin’,  and Café Bustelo. More Americans tend to start their day with a cup of coffee at home from a Smucker coffee brand than any other company. The firm offers products to meet consumers’ taste preferences, increasingly for darker, premium roasts, and convenience needs, including one-cup and ready-to-drink solutions.

Café Bustelo recently introduced the Café Bustelo Espresso Style Iced Coffee Beverages, the brand’s first-ever multi-serve product made to be enjoyed cold, thereby bringing the tradition of tits beloved espresso style coffee to the refrigerated aisle for the first time in its 96 years of history. This was after the brand noticed many of its coffee customers reaching more and more for iced coffee while wanting the iconic flavor of Café Bustelo’s espresso style roasts. Thus, accessibility to Café Bustelo’s coffee to consumers across the U.S. is currently being driven through geographic and format expansion.

The firm’s US Retail Coffee segment remained robust in the second quarter of its 2025 fiscal year. Net sales increased 3% as compared to the prior year period. Net price realization increased net sales by 3 percentage points, mainly driven by higher net pricing for mainstream roast and ground and instant coffee. The overall quarter witnessed organic net sales and earnings growth above the firm’s expectations with strength from the Café Bustelo, Uncrustables, Meow Mix, and Jif brands.

Overall, SJM ranks 6th on our list of best coffee stocks to buy according to hedge funds. While we acknowledge the potential of SJM as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that some deeply undervalued AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for a deeply undervalued AI stock that is more promising than SJM but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

READ NEXT: 8 Best Wide Moat Stocks to Buy Now and 30 Most Important AI Stocks According to BlackRock.

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

Related posts

Advisors in Focus- January 6, 2021

Gavin Maguire

Advisors in Focus- February 15, 2021

Gavin Maguire

Advisors in Focus- February 22, 2021

Gavin Maguire

Advisors in Focus- February 28, 2021

Gavin Maguire

Advisors in Focus- March 18, 2021

Gavin Maguire

Advisors in Focus- March 21, 2021

Gavin Maguire