Food Stocks Rally In Wake Of Kraft Merger, Adding To Warren Buffett's Gains

The 35% surge in Kraft Foods Group Inc.'s stock , following news of its merger with H.J. Heinz, is lifting the tide for the shares of other food companies early Wednesday. The stock of Mondelez International , which brands include Oreo, Nabisco and Trident, rallied 2.3% in premarket trade. That could be making Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway , which owned 578,000 Mondelez shares as of Dec. 31, about $462,400, in addition to the more than $4 million he's making on his small stake in Kraft. Separately, the shares of General Mills Inc. rallied 1.9%, Campbell Soup Co. climbed 1.3%, Kellogg Co. rose 0.8% and PepsiCo Inc. edged up 0.2%. Analyst Ken Goldman at J.P. Morgan wrote in a note to clients that when Heinz was bought in early 2013, "the average food stock significantly outperformed immediately), with some, such as Campbell Soup, rising more than 20% within two months.