Pure Play: “A company devoted to one line of business, or a company whose stock price is highly correlated with the fortunes of a specific investing theme or strategy.” (Investopedia)
Finding a good green pure play is not necessarily easy. While a company may produce a wholesome product, it might not pay its employees well, be a safe place to work, or be an asset to its community. Nevertheless, a pure play in a green industry can still be an investment in a better world
There are a few industries which offer pure plays for green Investors to consider: Alternative/Renewable Energy, “Natural” Products, Recycling, Microloans, and Natural Foods, and all of these sectors will be discussed here in the future.
Organic/Natural food/beverage-producing companies used to be a pretty good pure play. I used to own stock in Odwalla and Ben & Jerrys. Nowadays you have to do your homework, because top food conglomerates are buying the original companies out. Here’s my homework - featuring brands I am familiar with:
Heinz owns Hain Celestial which owns Westbrae, Bearito, Health Valley, Arrowhead Mills, Linda McCartney Veggie foods,
Walnut Acres & many more.
Cadbury Schweppes owns Nantucket Nectars & Hanson
Coca-Cola owns Odwalla
Colgate-Palmolive owns Tom’s of Maine
Danone owns Stonyfield Farm
Dean owns Horizon & White Wave (Silk)
General Mills owns Cascadian Farm & Muir Glen
J M Smucker owns Knudsen
Kelloggs owns Kashi & Morningstar Farms
Kraft (Philip Morris/-Altria) owns Boca Foods & Back to Nature
M&M Mars owns Seeds of Change
Nestle owns Poland Spring Water
Pepsico owns Tostidos
Solera Capital owns Annie’s
Unilever owns Ben & Jerry’s
Weetabix owns Barbara’s
Groupe Danone, a French “fresh dairy products, biscuits and beverages” conglomerate, is probably the only one of the above buyers with any claim to being green.
For a dramatic & colorful image of this situation, check out Phil Howard’s Organic Industry Structure (8/06)
http://www.cornucopia.org/images/WhoOwnsOrganicChartAug06.pdf
or surf for some of his other diagrams. About 3/5 of the top 25 food conglomerates own some organic food brand.
Actually I don’t know of any pure plays left in this [former?] pure play sector. It appears they are gone. If you know of any, let us know!
