TopGun^® Press

Brendan Wood International Investor Conviction Intel – Consumer Products – February 12th 2025

February 12th, 2025 by TopGun Press

Below are the most “talked about” Consumer Stocks on the BWI Shareholder Confidence Index based on our daily consultations with global investors.

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Commitment to Own the Name in the Year Ahead Changes in Investor Confidence Scores – Consumer Sector

(YE 1Q 2025 as of February 11th vs. YE 4Q 2024)

Legend:

Increase: Higher Quality Metric Score Compared to Result from 4Q 2024

Static: Unchanged Quality Metric Score Compared to Result from 4Q 2024

Decrease: Lower Quality Metric Score Compared to Result from 4Q 2024

Starbucks Corporation

Increase: Commitment to Own the Name in the Year Ahead, Strategy, Long Term Growth

Static: Senior Management, Transparency/Disclosure, Short Term Growth, Price Appreciation Potential

Decrease: CEO, CFO, Board of Directors, Balance Sheet, Momentum of Investor Confidence

“There is a lot more interest in Starbucks. I still think that a lot of long-only’ s are neutral weighted, not overweight. There is more room for it to go.”

“There is some skepticism around whether Starbucks can be fixed in the first place, with or without Brian Niccol.”

“Starbucks needs to do something about their strategy in China.”

“Getting Brian Niccol to come over is a good thing, but the package they gave Brian was too expensive.”

The Home Depot, Inc.

Increase: Commitment to Own the Name in the Year Ahead, Strategy* (Sector Leader), Transparency/Disclosure, Balance Sheet, Price Appreciation Potential

Static: CEO, Board of Directors. Senior Management, CFO

Decrease: Short Term Growth, Long Term Growth, Momentum of Investor Confidence

“With the home centers, like Home Depot and Lowe’s, there is so much pent-up spending. There’s approximately 35 trillion dollars of home equity in America today. Once people start getting some confidence in the cyclical recovery, the draw on that, and on home improvement is going to be absolutely stunning. Lowe’s has more ground to cover and they have more comeback and self-help opportunity. Home Depot are doing everything right, it’s just the cycle.”

“To a large extent, Lowe’s and Home Depot are affected by the overall macroeconomic conditions and the amount of money people spend on home improvement. Various long-term trends impact both companies similarly. However, Home Depot has a better track record regarding execution. Home Depot caters to professional contractors and is generally perceived as more consistent throughout the economic cycle. This may explain why Home Depot is currently valued higher than Lowe’s.”

Anheuser-Busch Inbev SA/NV

Increase: CEO

Static: Transparency/Disclosure, Short Term Growth, Long Term Growth, Balance Sheet. Momentum of Investor Confidence

Decrease: Commitment to Own the Name in the Year Ahead, Strategy, Board, Senior Management, CFO, Price Appreciation, Potential

“If they wanted to, Anheuser could use the balance sheet more aggressively in buying back shares, but I don’t think they should enter new markets or launch new products. Their core market is beer, and beer is hardly growing in terms of volume. They are making a lot of noise about B2C, but the impact is fairly limited. New categories are nice, but it takes two or three years, and then the hype is over.”

“The CEO, Brendan Whitworth, has been there for a few years now. Anheuser’s leverage is getting better and the capital allocation is more disciplined. We are gaining more confidence in him.”
“ABI has delivered on sales growth and EBITDA growth. However, some markets remain quite difficult in the US and China. We are a bit more cautious on the name. We see CFIs under pressure with levels below the March 2020 COVID levels. After a strong derating, it might be a good time to go in, but they first have to build confidence with investors that their markets are in better shape. They have to deliver on expectations both in organic terms but also in absolute terms.”

About Brendan Wood International:

Brendan Wood International (BWI), formed in 1970, is a private advisory group which originates performance investigation programs in the capital markets. Relying on its real time intelligence, BWI advises public companies, institutional and activist investors, investment banks and broker dealers on strategy, performance and recruitment of TopGun talent. Big cap companies looking for comprehensive investor confidence data on their organizations are likely to discover that Brendan Wood partners consult with their investors non stop year round. There are 2000+ live consultations with investment professionals overseeing +/- $60 trillion invested in the +/- 1400 big cap companies on the BWI Index. Investors depend on BWI to quantify the demand side of the investment industry, including the name by name research sales and trading professionals who influence investor demand. The firm’s partners have formally presented at 1000+ C level strategy meetings and corporate off-sites in fifty cities. Brendan Wood founded the exclusive TopGun Club, a performance based institution.

Disclaimer:

We wish to emphasize that all reports, evaluations and assessments contained herein, represent Brendan Wood International’s subjective judgment and opinions, based on our years of experience and on information obtained by us in the course of our research. Much of the factual information contained in the reports has been obtained by us from third parties on whose responses we have relied in good faith, independent verification by Brendan Wood International being, under the circumstances, impossible. While we believe that you will find our reports to be an invaluable tool in formulating your own strategies and judgments, the foregoing should be borne in mind. This report is not meant as investment advice and should not be interpreted as advising on the value of a company’s securities, the advisability of investing in, purchasing or selling any company’s securities or any other conclusion relating to investment/divestiture of a company’s securities. Finally, this report is not intended as an offer or solicitation for the purchase or sale of any company’s securities.