From pistachios to peanut butter, food recalls make headlines every year -- causing illness and sometimes death for consumers and spelling trouble for companies. That's where biotech Neogen has an edge.
This Michigan-based company has built a business around food safety, with products that range from medical devices for cattle to tests for bacteria, allergens, or toxins in edibles from poultry to ice cream. Neogen, whose fiscal year ends in May, recently proved its recession resilience by posting 11% revenue growth and a 6% increase in net income for the brutal quarter ending in February.
Analyst Steve Crowley of Craig-Hallum Capital Group is forecasting that as the economy improves, Neogen will be able to grow earnings by 13% to 14% in fiscal 2010. "The penalty for not being vigilant about product quality is that you're going out of business," he says, referring to Neogen's customers. "That's a pretty tremendous driver to demand."
--E.L.
