You may remember the scene from the Monty Python film Life of Brian where the people at the back of the crowd are straining to hear the Sermon on the Mount. "What did he say?" asks one. "I think it was blessed are the cheesemakers."

Certainly investors in Montreal cheesemaker Saputo Inc. have been blessed over the last year (to Nov. 23, 2001). The stock is up 48%!

Saputo Inc. was founded by master cheese maker Giuseppe Saputo, his wife Maria and son Lino in 1954, two years after emigrating to Canada from Italy. The company grew as a specialty cheese manufacturer for many years. Mozzarella was one of its main products.

In 1988 the company expanded into the United States with the purchase of two plants. The following year it completed a state-of-the-art production facility in St. Leonard, Quebec which also houses the company's headquarters.

The late 90's saw Saputo go public in October 1997 as well as expanding through acquisition - Fromages Caron in 1996, Stella Cheese in late 1997 (tripling its U.S. presence), and four more companies in 1998, two in the U.S. and two in Canada including Bari Cheese of British Columbia. The company also entered the fluid milk business in 1997 with the takeover of the Cremerie dairy in Trois Rivieres, Quebec.

1999 saw the company enter the snack food business with the acquisition of Culinar Inc., maker of Vachon cakes among other things.

Further acquisitions in 2000 and 2001, including British Columbia's largest dairy Dairyworld (formerly Dairyland) have brought the company to its status today as the largest dairy foods processor in Canada and the fourth largest in North America. The company owns and operates 36 plants in Canada and 15 in the U.S. Not bad for a company that started out manufacturing 10 kilograms of mozza a day.

Following a name change from Saputo Group to Saputo Inc. in August, the company issued a 100% stock dividend (same as a 2-for-1 stock split)  effective Nov. 30th for holders of record on November 23rd.

For those using the Online Investor Advantage approach to analysis, the company is a mid-cap with a Phase 2 rating of A-A-A-B-A for positive growth trend, low volatility, positive analyst reports, only B rated return on equity and revenue growth, and positive news (share split, improving operating margins, management commitment to increasing synergies as recent acquisitions are integrated).

Stochastics,  MACD  and 30 day moving average all issued a buy signal in late October with increasing volume shortly after that.  Although the MACD and Stochastics have both given a sell signal recently, the stock is not likely to fall below its support level of $22.00. Watch for a fall back to support levels and new buy signals then buy for long term growth.

This company's got lotsa mozza!