Veg Out With Hain Celestial

Trends Justify the Means

Discussing "microtrends," with Mad Money host Jim Cramer.

An important and potentially lucrative trend is emerging as more Americans are eating only organic food and turning away from meat altogether, Cramer said. Hain Celestial is the stock investors need to capitalize on it.

HAIN makes and distributes natural and organic food and personal care products. According to Mark Penn’s Microtrends, Cramer’s favorite new book about addressable markets you’ve probably never heard of, there are 1.5 million Americans between the ages of 8 and 18 that are now vegetarians. That’s up from practically zero in that age group fifty years ago. It is a huge growth market and Cramer would be remiss if he didn’t address it.

Food companies have had a tough go of it lately with raw costs so high, but Cramer would think HAIN is less exposed because its target market is fairly wealthy with higher levels of disposable income. Basically, the typical consumer who is worried about eating organic probably doesn’t care about paying a little extra for granola.

Questions for Cramer? [e-mail]

Questions, comments, suggestions for the Mad Money website? [e-mail]