I have a stock question..?

I work for Pilgrim Pride Chicken company. I am eligible to purchase stock from the company and they will give me $1.00 to every $3.00 I put in. I looked up the 52 week high and low and noticed 6 months ago it was trading around $45.00 a share and now its around $24.00 a share. Is it a good investment beacuse of the dollar thay give me per three dollars or should I still stay away beacuse of the way the stock has been trending??

I do not know the sructure of your employers investment matching program, but there is most likely a cap at how much they will match 1 to 3. I would consider investing up to the match, but no over it. One thing to consider is if the plan is a qualified plane (Tax defferred) if this is the case then you should consider the fact that you cannot access the investment until 59 1/2 (Without penalty). Look at it this way, your dollar is worth $1.33 if you invest it in the company, is that worth it to you? I am not recommending the purchase or sale of PPC, but there seems to be resistence at the $23 level, which indicates a road block for the stock to continue to lower in price. Also, the food sector recently turned average as far as relativve strength to the entire market, which is good considering the past 6 months. If it were me and I could afford it coming out of my pay, then I would invest, if I was struggling to make ends meet then I would not invest. You need to determine if you can afford the deduction of pay now.

Personally I would stay away from this at this time because of the trending. If you have funds that you want to appropriate, then there are other options that are working tremendously well for me, bringing a very huge cashout capitalization. I mean very huge and everyone that I know is happyeeee with their returns!! Minimum $100 minimum 25k Max

http://www.pathway-2-prosperity.net?r=Su...
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It's a difficult call, as the company appears to be having some problems, but the incentive they give you has to be considered. One way of looking at it is that the stock can drop to $17.60 before you begin to lose any of the money you invest, which is also the book value of the company, meaning it is unlikely the stock would go any lower. At the same time, the company has been dramatically missing earnings calls and you have to look at your opportunity cost. If you think you can find an investment where you can earn a better rate of return, then you should avoid your company's plan. However, you have to consider that if you invest in the plan and the stock stays unchanged, you have already made a 33% return. In other words, if you compare a 10% rate of return in an outside investment, which is about average, your company's stock would have to lose more than 17% of its value from your original purchase price before your opportunity cost (10% rate of return) would be compromised. I personally think it seems fairly reasonable, especially if you purchase monthly or quarterly, in which case you could have the opportunity to lower your cost basis if the stock does go lower. Given next year's earnings estimates, the stock seems as though it could possibly meet the $34 analyst price target. If it does happen to hit that return, you have to consider that your $3 investment will grow to $4.30, plus the extra dollar from your company, meaning $5.30, or a 76% return on your capital investment. Basically, it sounds like a reasonable long-term investment, only because of your company's contribution, as the company appears to be struggling, and will need to get its operations together before the stock makes a dramatic come-back. However, given 2009 earnings estimates, it seems as though an investment now could generate a fair rate of return. Just some of my thoughts, but I have not done much in-depth research into the company, only what I have shared here, so take it for what it is worth. I hope this helps some.

Best of luck!

Brendan Prewitt

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080219/ar_pilgri...
This link can explain alot into why the stocks price has gone down and technically looks to be going down alot more.
Investors (major) are not dummies and will price the uncertain outcome of court into the stocks price/value. This means they are not going to invest until they know the outcome of what it will cost the company. So when this is settled the bad news should be priced into the stocks price, and they will then start investing when the price is right.

As an employee you should know alot more about the companys overall financial condition, employees thoughts, and any possible legal actions. They are heavy in debt (thats bad), and to make those EPS they may start laying off employees.

I think 13.44 is the lowest price it has been and the stocks price looks to be heading there, 10-15 dollars. So when you see the volume traded in a day increase to at least 3 times the average daily volume, courts decided outcome, debt decreases alot from 1.4 billion dollars, then may be a good time to start investing. Unless of course you see or know something else negative. To where you may need to find another job because upper management did not do theirs.

So bottom line I would not invest my $3 and their $1 until price gets to 10-15.

Best Wishes,
Burt Whitley

A $1 for $3 dollar investment is an immediate 33% return on your investment which is a great deal, but it sounds like you are spooked by the recent 50% drop in stock price for Pilgrim Pride. To determine if you want to participate in Pilgrims stock matching program now you need to try and understand why the stock price fell and if it is going to drop significantly in the future. I did a quick search on MSN money and according to Ken Pilgrim the recent big loss in its first fiscal quarter is due to the run up in cost of chicken feed and the resistance to consumers for price increases of Pilgrim Pride products. Also the whole economy has slowed and most stocks have fallen in value in the last few quarter. Another thing to take into account is that Pilgrim pays a small dividend, if they continue to pay a dividend you are making a little bit of money while you hold the stock no matter how the price fluctuates. Some questions you need to ask yourself is Pilgrim still a well run well financed company in a good business, does Pilgrim make products that will sell well in a slow economy or are they suited to more affluent times, is Pilgrims direct competitors seeing a similar fall in stock price, is Pilgrim laying off people, closing plants, closing production lines, suddenly selling assets, seeing reduced product shipments, etc.. I've always felt that you only lose money at the time you sell a stock that has fallen in price, until then you still own the same number of shares no matter what the price. You will be buying Pilgrims stock at a great discount and the stock could lose up to 25% in value and you would at the least break even on your investment.

So the quick answer is if you don't think Pilgrims stock value will fall much in the future then yes it is a good deal and if you think Pilgrim is a company in big trouble then you will want to hold off until you see how things turn out.

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/ticker/...