A good week for stocks in general was a good week for the Yonder 40, DY’s index of publicly-traded companies that reflect the rural economy.
The Yonder 40 trailed the other major indexes, but the companies that do a large portion of their business in rural America had an up week overall. The Yonder 40 is still down almost three percent since beginning on July 1. The other indexes the DY is tracking are also down in that time, although the Dow Industrials are off by just a fraction.
The NASDAQ is off by a percentage point since July 1; the S&P 500 is down by 1.6 percent; and the S&P 500 that is equally weighted is off by 3.7 percent in the last seven weeks.
The Yonder 40 was led this week by its meat producers: Smithfield, Hormel and Tyson. Smithfield reported net income in its latest quarter up from $24.6 million a year ago to $54.5 million. The company is benefiting from large exports to China. Hog prices in Chicago were up 11 percent. Hormel reported lower earnings, but still the company benefited from the demand for meat.
(Editorial aside: Now that prices are up for hogs, the Yonder wonders if these mega-producers might consider returning taste to pork sold in most American groceries.)
Sturm Ruger, the gunmaker, continued its upward climb from just over $14 a share a few weeks ago to $19.33 on closing Friday. The outdoor and hunting equipment purveyor Cabella’s is also recovering, up nearly nine percent this week.
Here are the results for the full Yonder 40.
YONDER 40, WEEK OF AUGUST 19-24, 2007
| Companies | Ticker | Price August 24 | Price Change for Week | Percent Change for Week |
| Alico Inc. | ALCO | 50.8 | -$0.23 | -0.45% |
| Andersons Inc. | ANDE | 46.47 | $0.35 | 0.76% |
| Burlington Northern Santa Fe Corp. | BNI | 80.55 | $0.99 | 1.24% |
| Berkshire Hathaway | BRKB | 3,995.00 | $47.00 | 1.19% |
| Bassett Furniture | BSET | 11.38 | -$0.25 | -2.15% |
| Peabody Energy Corp. | BTU | 42.6 | $1.12 | 2.70% |
| Cabela’s Inc. | CAB | 24.47 | $1.96 | 8.71% |
| ConAgra Foods Inc. | CAG | 25.6 | $0.45 | 1.79% |
| Cato Corp. Cl A | CTR | 21.32 | -$0.07 | -0.33% |
| Citizens Communications | CZN | 14.41 | $0.61 | 4.42% |
| Deere & Co. | DE | 130.26 | $5.65 | 4.53% |
| Dean Foods Co. | DF | 27.71 | $0.07 | 0.25% |
| DIRECTV Group | DTV | 23.12 | $0.55 | 2.44% |
| Family Dollar Stores Inc. | FDO | 28.15 | $1.15 | 4.26% |
| Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. | FLE | 9.27 | -$0.74 | -7.39% |
| FairPoint Communications | FRP | 16.73 | $0.50 | 3.08% |
| Gaylord Entertainment Co. | GET | 52.31 | $1.00 | 1.95% |
| Hormel Foods | HRL | 35.75 | $1.86 | 5.49% |
| International Speedway Corp. | ISCA | 47.86 | -$0.44 | -0.91% |
| Lee Enterprises | LEE | 17.93 | -$1.26 | -6.57% |
| Mohawk Industries Inc. | MHK | 87.64 | $1.31 | 1.52% |
| Monsanto Co. | MON | 67.99 | $4.90 | 7.77% |
| Mine Safety Appliances Co. | MSA | 50 | -$0.14 | -0.28% |
| Southwest Bancorp | OKSB | 22.58 | $0.96 | 4.44% |
| Plum Creek Timber REIT | PCL | 41.88 | $1.78 | 4.44% |
| Penn Virginia Corp. | PVA | 40.17 | $0.34 | 0.85% |
| Ralcorp Holdings | RAH | 57.73 | -$2.58 | -4.28% |
| Regions Financial Corp. | RF | 32.68 | $0.62 | 1.93% |
| Sturm Ruger & Co. | RGR | 19.33 | $2.00 | 11.54% |
| Smithfield Foods | SFD | 33.6 | $4.84 | 16.83% |
| Skywest Inc. | SKYW | 25.44 | $0.57 | 2.29% |
| Southern Co. | SO | 36.12 | $0.12 | 0.33% |
| Stage Stores Inc. | SSI | 17.13 | -$0.79 | -4.41% |
| Tractor Supply Co. | TSCO | 48.13 | $2.31 | 5.04% |
| Tyson Foods | TSN | 21.86 | $1.85 | 9.25% |
| UST Inc. | UST | 49.68 | -$1.72 | -3.35% |
| Waddell & Reed Financial Inc. | WDR | 24.74 | -$0.39 | -1.55% |
| Walter Industries | WLT | 24.74 | $0.78 | 3.26% |
| Wal-Mart Stores | WMT | 43.74 | $0.25 | 0.57% |
| Cimarex Energy | XEC | 35.15 | -$0.46 | -1.29% |
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