Tag Archives: debt

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Planet Fitness: Beneficiary of the weight-loss boom?

One of the booming (and at the same time a bit annoying) themes at the moment is weight-loss. Practically no day without such headlines. What in the past was a combination of a relatively clean diet paired with frequent activity to stay in shape, today seems to have shifted towards wonder drugs to do the job. Of course genetics also play a role, but broadly speaking this was the formula. In my view going to “the gym” is unlikely to be replaced by weight-loss drugs, no matter how much space they occupy in the news. To the contrary, Planet Fitness is an interesting case to have an eye on.

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Safe 20% with Kenvue?

The case of the world’s biggest pure-play consumer care company, Kenvue, is a special one. What makes it interesting is that despite being the primus inter pares, it fetched a 48.7 billion USD bid in November 2025. However, there’s a notable gap of around 20% between the takeover price and where shares currently trade. Could this be an idea, entirely uncorrelated to the broader market, for 2026 for “safe” 20%, if the deal closes?

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Conagra Brands: A “defensive” consumer stock with an aggressive balance sheet

One or the other time, I have published a weekly about consumer stocks. My general view has been for years that these names should be avoided, being it food, beverage, or alcohol stocks, partly also household and cleaning producers (except one name I published a research report about, it’s up +22% over the last five months). Investors who bought blindly solely based on past performance have suffered big losses. While hopes for a turnaround to finally arrive continue to be high, there’s little reason to be overly optimistic. These stocks have lost their status as “defensive” core positions not for one, but for several reasons. The case study of Conagra Brands.

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Nine lost years — Bottom in sight for Nestlé?

Since its peak at around 130 CHF per share and a market cap of almost 400 billion CHF, consumer staples heavyweight Nestlé has highly disappointed its fan base of predominantly defensively oriented investors. Who’d have thought that THE core investment in the consumer staples sector (besides Coca-Cola) could see its stock price get almost cut in half? Although I have not written a weekly about Nestlé so far, my readers know that Nestlé has not been interesting all the time. Is it now worth a look?

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Has Big Pharma destroyed Shareholder Value (as expected)?

In March 2023, I published a controversial weekly, warning about investments in Big Pharma stocks. This group, often popular among retail investors for their dividends and pretend safety (size, diversification, proven, etc.), was already back then clearly facing a huge wall of painful patent expirations. As I had expected, many of the biggest — and most popular — names have seen their stocks painfully breaking apart while broader markets rose. Time for an update.

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The Oracle in the AI coal mine?

Over the last months, I have written two Weeklies, criticizing the from my view not sustainable AI investment frenzy, featuring Meta’s stock as my main target. Maybe this was because Meta is a mainstream darling that on top has delivered a stellar return over the last three years. However, little did I know that there is an even more interesting case in the second row. With some interesting developments in the recent past, is this the Oracle in the AI coal mine for what to expect?

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Investing in stocks of bankrupt companies + new research report

Investing in stocks of companies that went bankrupt, seriously? Seriously! What at first sounds like a recipe for disaster, indeed can be a lucrative endeavor. A bankrupt company is not the same as the ceasing of operations. Indeed, often it is even the case that companies go into bankruptcy restructuring while everyday operations continue. This area can be a great treasure trove to fish for potential multi-baggers where others don’t bother due to negative associations. A premier on Financial Engineering: My Premium PLUS members receive my latest stock idea – a pick that recently emerged from bankruptcy – with the potential to multi-bag.

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Nomad Foods: Tasty Deal?

In the spotlight today is the Western European market leader in the frozen food industry. With a portfolio of multiple brands, the company’s roots span over a century. The current setup was formed in 2015, when the brands Iglo and Findus were acquired. Since the IPO, a decade has passed, yet the stock is trading (again) where it had started. Are a near 5% dividend yield and a PE ratio of 7 enough to spark appetite, or is something fishy?

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Diageo – Does Johnnie keep on stumblin’?

Though initially not planned as a trilogy in that sense, today I am taking a closer look at Diageo, the world’s biggest spirits company. Like its competitors Pernod Ricard and Brown-Foreman, Diageo stock has nosedived, and caused strong headaches for its investors. After the stock got cut in half, while the broader market ran from high to high, the question arises, whether this could be a good contrarian pick right now. Especially with the dividend now being on a historically high level.

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PVH Corp.: Trading at 6x earnings – still not a buy

While it likely makes sense to be cautious when a stock trades at a high valuation multiple, the case of PVH Corp. might raise some eyebrows – at least at first sight. The company owns two well-known apparel brands, has been constantly profitable, is generating healthy free cash flow and even buying back its own shares aggressively at a low valuation, seemingly generating strong shareholder value. Shares, however, only trade at a 6x price to earnings ratio. I’ll tell you while this likely is still not a bargain.

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