Ask Matt: Why are food stocks so hot?

Q: Why are food stocks so hot?

A: Tech and biotech companies might be the best known for being money-making machines. But for investors this year it’s been hard to resist some piping hot food stocks.

Pepsico (PEP), McDonald’s (MCD), food distribution company Sysco (SY) and meat processor Tyson Foods (TSN) are trading around all-time highs. Another food processor, ConAgra (CAG) also set a new all-time high Thursday after reporting strong quarterly results for the period ended in February.

Shares of ConAgra, which makes everything from Chef Boyardee to Banquet frozen dinners, jumped 66 cents, or 1.5%, to $46.09 after reporting an adjusted profit per share of 68 cents a share, beating expectations by 17%, says S&P Global Market Intelligence. That puts the stock already where analysts, on average, thought it would be worth in 18 months. Investors are grabbing onto shares of food stocks because of their tendency to maintain profit no matter what kind of shape the economy is in. Even when the economy softens, consumers still need to eat. This innate durability of food companies’ earnings makes them appealing at a time like now when there’s uncertainty about earnings and economic growth.

Paste BN markets reporter Matt Krantz answers a different reader question every weekday. To submit a question, e-mail Matt at mkrantz@usatoday.com or on Twitter @mattkrantz.