PFGC is engaged in the marketing, processing and sale of food and food-related products to restaurants, hotels, cafeterias, schools, hospitals and other businesses and institutions. For the 39 weeks ended 9/30/00, net salesincreased 28% to $1.93B. Net income rose 42% to $18.9M. Revenues benefitted from acquisitions and increased sales in existing operations. Net income also reflects the absence of a $3.8M nonrecurring merger expense.

December 17, 2000

People may not be buying personal computers nearly as much these days but hard landing or not; they are still eating just as much. PFGC is a processor and supplier of a variety of food products to multiple institutions including restaurants, hospitals and schools. PFGC's share price is plowing into new highs, which makes the stock a split candidate. A relatively low P/E of 28.11, combined with expected earnings growth in the low 20% area for the past year and for next year has attracted investors. PFGC established a new all time high of $49.88 on Friday. This price should provide mild resistance on Monday. PFGC completed a secondary offering last week at $41.00. This price should provide major long-term support. Friday's opening price was $46.75, which rests upon the short-term trend line and should provide support. The MACD recently turned positive and is rising. Money Flow is on fire, with investors fleeing from tech stocks and putting money into reliable, fundamentally sound stocks. The RSI may be indicating the start of an overbought condition. However, the last time the RSI was at current levels, it hung at overbought levels for a while before the stock started to pull back.

Picked on December 17th @ $49.75
Change since picked +0.00
Stop Loss @ $43.00

January 2, 2001

The holiday season ended abruptly for this major food distributor. Our suspicion is that PFGC was a beneficiary of late December window dressing. Unfortunately, that momentum did not carry over to the first day of this year. Longer term, PFGC still looks very good both technically and fundamentally. The early days of the new year may be dominated by value investors. Rest assured, momentum investors will likely reemerge some time this quarter.

Picked on December 17th @ $49.75
Profit/Loss +1.25 ( 3%)(Stopped Tuesday @ $51.00)
Best Profit +7.00 (14%)

December 31, 2000

PFGC finished the year with a somewhat lackadaisical effort. The strong rally among momentum stocks fizzled a bit at week’s end. Our $51.00 stop was threatened during Friday’s action. The hope is that this trend line support will hold on Tuesday. The strong rally that began in November for this major food processor and supplier has had similar pullbacks to the one we saw on Friday. If we are not stopped, we think there is a good chance that PFGC can recover and take a look at the recently established high of $56.75 sometime during the coming week. There may be a little resistance at today’s high print of $55.13 on the way back up. The increase in recent volatility may be due to year-end portfolio shuffling. However, an increase in volatility sometimes is a warning that a stock is near an important top. The long-term technical indicators remain solid. The strongest indicator is the MACD. Friday’s action may have broken the up trend in the OBV and the Money Flow, but it is too early to tell.

Picked on December 17th @ $49.75
Change since picked +1.53
Stop Loss @ $51.00