No matter where you live, eventually a mythical average American will visit a food or retail drug store which makes the sector a defensive industry for any part of the economic sector. To look at the sector, Jean-Didier Lapointe from Stock Pointer with the following criteria:

a minimum market capitalization of $ 1 billion

economic performance index or EPI (return on capital divided by cost of capital). An EPI ratio of 1.0 indicates a company’s capacity to create wealth for its shareholders.

return on capital

one year sales growth

dividend yield

one year and 5 year average annual dividend growth rates

Company                      Mkt Cap       EPI        R/C    1Yr Sales      Div Yield         1 Yr Avg     5 Yr Avg

($ Bil)                         %          Growth           %               Ann Div Growth Rate

Wal-Mart Stores         214.0            2.1        12.4         -0.60             2.9              2.0                 5.9

Caseys Gen Stores           4.4            1.9        13.1         -6.40             0.85            9.0                 9.0

Costco Wholesale         62.4             1.8        13.5           2.60            1.26             12.5               12.6

Kroger                               30.7            1.5         10.7          2.80             1.54              9.10             19.0

Sprouts Farmers Mkt     3.1             1.5         11.3          18.40             n/a               n/a              n/a

Whole Foods Mkt            9.3             1.4        10.4            1.9               1.84              7.7              19.7

CVS Health                      88.7            1.3         10.0          14.4              2.04             22.9            28.3

Sysco Corp                        28.6           1.3           9.3            3.5               2.37                3.3               3.5

Walgreens Boots              87.9         1.2           9.9          13.6               1.84               11.8              n/a

Source: StockPointer

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the great thing about these lists is you have choice and opportunity and if you shop at one of the stores you can see. If they impress you, if you go on what is their busy days to see how much people are buying you can be reasonable confident in your choice. If something is not right, you can look to alternatives. Right now is the lead up to Christmas and this has generally meant more consumer spending – where are those dollars going? When people gather there is generally a food component do you see the carts being filled?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.