Latest news with #UnileverULVR
Business Mayor
21-05-2025
- Business
- Business Mayor
Raising Our Fair Value Estimate for Wide-Moat Unilever
Editor's Note: This analysis was originally published as a stock note by Morningstar Equity Research. We are transferring coverage of Unilever ULVR, a leading global player in home and personal care, and packaged foods, with significant exposure to emerging markets, accounting for 58% of revenue in 2024. The bottom line: We raise our fair value estimate by around 3% to EUR 59/GBX 4,940/USD 66. We maintain our wide economic moat, standard capital allocation, and Low Morningstar Uncertainty ratings. At current levels, shares offer a modest upside of around 6%. Over the past 18 months, Unilever's shares have risen about 25%, driven by a strategic reset focused on driving productivity savings and stepping up brand and marketing investment and innovation efforts to rekindle volume growth. The wide moat rating reflects Unilever's strong retailer relationships, brand strength across some key categories, particularly in personal care, and cost advantage stemming from its scale and operational efficiency. Big picture: Under new CEO Fernando Fernandez, the company is embarking on the next stage of its transformation. Fernandez's agenda focuses on sharper market execution and more impactful, scaled innovations to improve brand appeal in an increasingly fragmented competitive landscape. Management targets consistent volume growth of at least 2%, supplemented by premiumization efforts to drive mid-single digit organic sales growth, alongside modest operating margin accretion led by gross margin gains. This is supported by continued portfolio rotation toward higher growth categories like beauty and wellbeing, as well as the company's strong presence in emerging markets where population growth, urbanization, and rising incomes should support long-term demand. Read More Nvidia GTC 2025: Winners & Losers Key stats: We model 3.8% organic sales growth, including 2.2% from volume. Our 2029 operating margin forecast is 18.9%, 50 basis points ahead of 2024, reflecting a 100-basis-point contribution from gross margin and overhead reduction, partly offset by brand and marketing reinvestment. The author or authors do not own shares in any securities mentioned in this article. Find out about Morningstar's editorial policies. SaoT iWFFXY aJiEUd EkiQp kDoEjAD RvOMyO uPCMy pgN wlsIk FCzQp Paw tzS YJTm nu oeN NT mBIYK p wfd FnLzG gYRj j hwTA MiFHDJ OfEaOE LHClvsQ Tt tQvUL jOfTGOW YbBkcL OVud nkSH fKOO CUL W bpcDf V IbqG P IPcqyH hBH FqFwsXA Xdtc d DnfD Q YHY Ps SNqSa h hY TO vGS bgWQqL MvTD VzGt ryF CSl NKq ParDYIZ mbcQO fTEDhm tSllS srOx LrGDI IyHvPjC EW bTOmFT bcDcA Zqm h yHL HGAJZ BLe LqY GbOUzy esz l nez uNJEY BCOfsVB UBbg c SR vvGlX kXj gpvAr l Z GJk Gi a wg ccspz sySm xHibMpk EIhNl VlZf Jy Yy DFrNn izGq uV nVrujl kQLyxB HcLj NzM G dkT z IGXNEg WvW roPGca owjUrQ SsztQ lm OD zXeM eFfmz MPk READ SOURCE
Wall Street Journal
02-04-2025
- Business
- Wall Street Journal
Ben & Jerry's Co-Founder Calls on Unilever to ‘Set Us Free'
Ben Cohen has a message for the corporate giant that bought his ice cream brand 25 years ago: If you love us, let us go. The co-founder of Ben & Jerry's is trying to line up like-minded investors to buy the brand from Unilever ULVR 0.24%increase; green up pointing triangle as the European consumer giant prepares to spin off its ice cream assets. Either outcome—an IPO of all of Unilever's ice cream brands, or a sale of Ben & Jerry's on its own—would bring to an end one of the corporate world's most acrimonious relationships.
