We recently published an article about the 8 Best Cleaning Materials Stocks To Invest In Now. Let’s look at where Unilever PLC (UL) stands against other cleaning materials stocks to invest in now.
Investors are reacting to an array of geopolitical and economic developments as volatility in the US equity market edges higher heading into year-end. The upcoming US election is posing a significant headwind that is taking a toll on sentiments in the equity markets. Similarly, concerns of a slowing economy crumbling amid high interest rates is also leading investors to rethink their investment portfolios.
Will the Soft Landing Narrative Play Out the Way Investors Want?
On October 16, Saira Malik, Nuveen CIO and head of equities and fixed income, joined CNBC’s ‘Squawk Box’ to discuss the latest market trends, whether the soft landing narrative will play out, and the state of the economy, among others. She said that concerns exist over whether the soft landing narrative will play out the way investors want or not.
Investors are drinking the Kool Aid when it comes to a soft landing, and that can be seen in the earnings seasons so far where companies are coming in reasonably strong, especially in the non-tech side. The consumer also looks strong. But the bar is pretty low for this earnings season, with a 4% year over year earnings growth expected as compared to last quarter’s 11%. Thus, Malik is of the view that the narrative might not play out exactly the way it was anticipated.
How to Hedge Your Portfolio Amid Market Volatility
On August 8, Tiffany McGhee, CEO and CIO of Pivotal Advisors, appeared on CNBC to discuss the market’s volatility and ways to hedge your portfolio. She expressed her inclination towards holding a diversified portfolio and an asset allocation strategy set. She said that it is really exciting getting caught up in the large-cap growth stocks that really drive the performance of the market for so long. But it is really important to have a balance portfolio, and thus she reiterated that investors should really consider having defensive stocks if they don’t have any.
Defensive stocks have long been a popular addition to portfolios, as they hold the potential to protect investors from the transitions of the stock market. They can produce good income, stable returns, and pose long-term value for investors.
Our Methodology
To ranks the 8 best cleaning materials stocks to invest in now, we used the Finviz screener, ETFs, and online rankings to first identify the top cleaning material stocks. We then selected 8 stocks that were also the most popular among elite hedge funds and that analysts were bullish on. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of their hedge fund holders as of Q2 2024.
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 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).
8 Best Cleaning Materials Stocks To Invest In Now
Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL)
Number of Hedge Fund Holders as of Q2 2024: 21
Unilever PLC (NYSE:UL) is a fast-moving consumer goods company based in the United Kingdom. It operates under five segments: Personal Care, Home Care, Beauty and Well-Being, Nutrition, and Ice Cream. Its primary focus has been on delivering high-quality sales growth and expanding its gross margin, allowing a step-up in investment behind its brands in the first half of 2024.
The company has made substantial progress over the year’s first half, with its underlying sales growing 4.1%. Volume growth accelerated to 2.6% and was primarily broad-based. Growth was majorly led by Unilever’s Power Brands, with an underlying sales growth of 5.7% and volumes up by 4%. The core part of its plans is to focus on its brands, so the results were encouraging for the company. Gross margin expansion was strong, up 420 basis points to 45.7%. In addition, the company recorded reduced material costs.
Unilever (NYSE:UL) is on the path to attaining net cost productivity via tight cost control in its operations. These impacts strengthened the company’s gross margin development in the first half and allowed around €700 million ($758.95 million) in extra marketing and brand investment, which went behind a strong and focused innovation program.
The company has been implementing its growth action plan at pace over the last quarter, improving financial performance and incorporating sustainability leadership in its four priority areas: climate, nature, plastics, and livelihoods. It made progress across all four areas in the first half of 2024 and thus boasts a favorable future outlook.
Overall, Unilever (NYSE:UL) ranks 8th among the 8 best cleaning materials stocks to buy now. While we acknowledge the potential of UL to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than UL but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.
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Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
