JP Morgan's Potential Pair Trade In Packaged Food Stocks

JP Morgan rated two packaged food stocks Wednesday morning. The firm upgraded J M Smucker Co SJM from Neutral to Overweight and downgraded Hershey Co HSY from Overweight to Neutral, while raising price targets on both stocks.

The firm expects J M Smucker to rise to $117 (closed Tuesday at $104.19) and Hershey to reach $116 (closed at $110.38).

Analysts can’t seem to agree on either one of these companies. Tigress Financial seems to agree with JP Morgan, as it initiated coverage on J M Smucker at Buy and Hershey at Neutral in November.

Citigroup also sees J M Smucker as a Buy, while Credit Suisse (Neutral) and Morgan Stanley (Equal-weight) are less bullish.

Regarding Hershey, Wells Fargo recently upgraded it to Outperform, Goldman Sachs promoted it to Neutral (from Sell) and Deutsche Bank reiterated a Buy.