The Motley Fool Take Upgrade for Kraft Foods

Every day, the sun rises on Wall Street, and a plethora of professional analysts wakes to issue new opinions on stocks. Meanwhile, at the Fool, thousands of participants in our free CAPS service rate thousands of stocks, with many demonstrating better investing insight than published analysts. (Visit

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Enough top-performing CAPS members have turned bullish on Kraft Foods (NYSE: KFT) recently to boost it to the highest-possible five-star rating. A total of 1,673 members have weighed in on Kraft, with many of them offering analysis and commentary explaining the recent optimism.

As the largest North American food maker, Kraft has taken steps to cut costs and spend more on advertising to attract customers. Price hikes have also helped improve revenue, with Kraft's sales rising 19.4 percent to $10.5 billion in the third quarter. The sale of the Post cereal brand helped earnings per share more than double, and management expects an easing of pressure from commodity price increases.

Investors are looking harder lately at large-cap stocks that pay a healthy dividend. In addition, stocks with strong retail value propositions are nice to have in portfolios during bad economies, thanks to their recession-resistant qualities. With Kraft holding both qualities, more than 93 percent of the CAPS members rating the company expect it to outperform the market.