We recently published a list of the 12 Best Household Stocks to Buy According to Hedge Funds. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NUS) stands against the other best household stocks to buy according to hedge funds.
Is There a Softening in the Consumer Staple Sector?
On March 21, Bryan Spillane, Bank of America Securities’ senior food and beverage analyst, appeared on CNBC’s ‘The Exchange’ to discuss things across his space and the trends surrounding consumer staples. He said that going through the first quarter of the year and having check-ins with companies has led him to conclude that the conditions in the sector have been soft, which is true across his entire coverage universe. Consumers are pulling back a bit, and there’s uncertainty surrounding the conditions in the sector. What’s surprising is that these trends started in January and extended through the first quarter.
The sector, however, is showing a dichotomy. Spillane believed this is a market for consumer staples, as we are looking for defensiveness and certainty. But at the same time, we are doing that at a time when the fundamentals appear to be decelerating. This creates a dynamic for investors to really understand the market and where it would be best to put their money in, as not all seem as safe as they would typically be.
READ ALSO: 10 Best Strong Buy Stocks To Buy Right Now and 10 Best Vegan Stocks to Buy According to Analysts.
The Biggest Challenge in Consumer Staples
According to Spillane, the biggest challenges right now are in the beverage alcohol sector specifically, which dropped off unexpectedly in the first quarter of this year after a weak fourth quarter last year. This can be attributed to visa issues, as cohorts of consumers are not spending as much as before. Similar trends are now materializing in household products and personal care categories as well. While these sectors have been very resilient over the past three years, they are now beginning to show signs of a slowdown. The conditions are a head-scratcher, because these are the products consumers use every day. Thus, general uncertainty around a cohort of consumers, including visa holders and students, is beginning to materialize in the sector’s performance.
These trends have resulted in concerns about whether staples would be less of a safe haven this time around. Addressing these concerns, Spillane said that staples would still be a safe haven if we consider them relative to the world we are living in. Large liquid consumer staples are still a place investors would want to be if they are looking for a place to hide in uncertainty, as they are likely to generate considerable cash flows and pay dividends.
Our Methodology
We sifted through stock screeners, financial media reports, and ETFs to compile a list of 20 household stocks. We then selected the top 12 with the highest number of hedge fund holders, as of Q4 2024, and ranked them in ascending order. We sourced the hedge fund sentiment data from Insider Monkey’s database.
Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (see more details here).
A smiling woman applying a product from the company’s skin care line.SS
Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NUS)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders: 29
Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NUS) is an integrated wellness and beauty company that develops and markets an elaborate range of products in around 50 markets worldwide. It has three brands: Nu Skin, Pharmanex, and ageLOC. Nu Skin is a beauty brand, while Pharmanex and ageLOC are wellness and anti-aging brands, respectively.
On January 3, the company announced the completion of a strategic transaction between its Rhyz Inc. subsidiary and Later, a portfolio company of Summit Partners. Rhyz Inc. sold Mavely, its affiliate marketing technology platform, to Later for approximately $250 million cash and a minority equity stake in the combined Later/Mavely business. Mavely is anticipated to continue offering certain technology and social commerce abilities to support Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc.’s (NYSE:NUS) affiliate marketing business.
This strategic transaction gave the company around five times the return on its cumulative investments in Mavely since its acquisition in 2021. The proceeds from this transaction are expected to help Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NUS) fund innovation in its offerings and pay down debt. The company also plans to use its strengthened balance for share buybacks under its existing stock repurchase program, providing value to its shareholders.
The company also reported better-than-expected fiscal Q4 2024 earnings, with revenue reaching $445.6 million and adjusted EPS of $0.38. Despite foreign currency headwinds, Nu Skin Enterprises, Inc. (NYSE:NUS) expects strong 2025 earnings and revenue guidance.
Overall, NUS ranks 10th on our list of the best household stocks to buy according to hedge funds. While we acknowledge the potential of NUS as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than NUS but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires.
Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
