Hormel Foods Corp (NYSE: HRL), a producer of meats and foods with household names, isn’t a sexy company. However, recommending the maker of Spam isn’t an exercise in trying to put lipstick on a pig. This pig actually cleans up well.

Consider the following impressive stats. When the S&P 500 dropped by 57 percent during the Great Recession of 2008-2009, Hormel’s stock fell only 42 percent. Its earnings per share (EPS) fell less than 3 percent in 2008 and then rose an astounding 22 percent in 2009—and it continues to rise today.

Over the past five years, the compounded annual growth rate for the stock’s EPS is 11.1 percent. The share price is now about 41 percent above its pre-recession high and the stock (unlike most of its peers) is fairly valued. Most companies in this industry are priced to perfection and need a retreat in share price to achieve what I consider to be a fair value relative to fundamentals.

Hormel is in an industry that is typically considered defensive and a good place to run during market volatility. However, this company also holds far more growth potential that most investors anticipate.

The Rise of The Consuming Classes

After an emerging country hits the milestone of $1,000 per capita income, it experiences a huge increase in its consuming class. When hundreds of millions of people are no longer concerned about where to get their next meal, they begin to think of what they will eat instead of how. During this transformation, people add more meat to their diets. Protein is scarce in poor countries, but that’s changing as these countries become more affluent. Processed food will experience a rising demand from emerging countries; companies that are positioned to take advantage of that growth will see their fortunes improve for the duration of the trend.

All of which begs the question: Why do I recommend Hormel and not its huge and comparable competitors, such as General Mills (NYSE: GIS) or Heinz (NYSE: HNZ)? Take a look at the chart, “Food for Thought.” Hormel wins in most of these key metrics:

Food for Thought

A comparison of Hormel, General Mills and Heinz

Source: Bloomberg, Mark Bern

Hormel is the best value for new money at current levels. I also expect the company to rack up a total compounded annual return over the next five years of 10.8 percent. In today’s uncertain economic environment, I find Hormel to be a tasty investment indeed.

Mark Bern’s experience includes over 20 years within the federal government in various positions in accounting, financial management and strategic alliance management. He writes extensively on investments.