In a report released today, Kevin Grundy from Jefferies maintained a Hold rating on Newell Brands (NYSE: NWL), with a price target of $30. The company’s shares closed on Friday at $27.65, close to its 52-week low of $23.85.
Grundy observed:
“We trim our FY19-20 est. / maintain our Hold rating post NWL’s soft 1Q and formalized Transformation Plan. Just two (brutal) years into the JAH merger, NWL intends to dramatically slim down the portfolio through asset sales, improve its execution, and revitalize a beleaguered corp. culture – no easy task. At 9.5x EV/EBITDA, valuation looks reasonable given myriad risks facing the co. PT to $30 incorporating pending assets sales, but we remain on the sidelines. NWL’s soft 1Q “less bad” than feared: NWL’s 1Q was modestly disappointing on org sales (-3.4% vs. Street -2.1%) and EBITDA (-3% below Street), though did not come as a big surprise w/TOYS liquidation driving an incremental hurt of ~80 bps/$0.015 to core sales/ EPS. Baby/Writing, which declined high-single-digits % / double-digits % in 1Q, are expected to remain problematic into 2Q, though show sequential improvement in 2H18. Guidance now at low end of prior ranges given TOYS pressure: Given the liquidation of TOYS (vs. 1/4 store closings in prior assumptions), mgmt lowered FY18 core sales/EPS guidance to flat-to-down LSD% / low end of prior $2.65-$2.85 range, which did not come as a huge surprise w/Street est. at $2.66.”
According to TipRanks.com, Grundy is a 4-star analyst with an average return of 7.1% and a 59.3% success rate. Grundy covers the Consumer Goods sector, focusing on stocks such as Coca-Cola European Partners, Edgewell Personal Care, and Monster Beverage Corp.
Currently, the analyst consensus on Newell Brands is Hold and the average price target is $29.50, representing a 6.7% upside.
In a report issued on May 4, Oppenheimer also assigned a Hold rating to the stock.
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The company has a one-year high of $55.08 and a one-year low of $23.85. Currently, Newell Brands has an average volume of 8.46M.
Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 38 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is positive on the stock. This means that over the past quarter there has been an increase of insiders buying their shares of NWL in relation to earlier this year.
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Newell Brands, Inc. engages in the manufacture, marketing, and sale of consumer and commercial products. It operates through the following segments: Writing, Home Solutions, Tools, Commercial Products, Baby & Parenting, Branded Consumables, Consumer Solutions, Outdoor Solutions, and Process Solutions.
