This week’s Friday Update is brief, with no earnings reports. We moved GCP Applied Technologies (GCP) to a Sell earlier this week, as it appears that there will be no over-bid to St. Gobain’s generous $32/share all-cash agreement. The GCP investment produced a 77% profit from our June 2020 recommendation.
Despite the volatility in the broad stock market, there wasn’t much news on our recommended companies.
Brief scheduling note: as next Friday is a Christmas holiday, we will be publishing our Friday note and podcast next Thursday, December 23.
Friday, December 17, 2021 Subscribers-Only Podcast
Covering recent news and analysis for our portfolio companies and other topics relevant to value investors.
Today’s podcast is about 5 minutes and covers:
- Brief updates on recommended stocks:
- Kraft Heinz (KHC) – acquiring an 85% stake in German meal-kit company Just Spices.
- TreeHouse Foods (THS) –activist investor Jana Partners’ standstill agreement with the company has expired, likely leading to more aggressive changes or a sale.
- Elsewhere in the market:
- Former high-flyers are suffering jaw-dropping price declines. We highlight several down 50%-75%. Are there bargains in these names and also in those that are below their pre-pandemic prices?
- Yesterday, despite the market’s decline, 26 of our 35 recommended names had share price increases. All 13 recommended names in our sister publication, Cabot Undervalued Stocks Advisor, has positive returns. Many of our names had been previously hit hard, and now look like unusual bargains, including Organon (OGN) and Credit Suisse (CS), as well as Bristol Myers Squibb (BMY).
| Market Cap | Recommendation | Symbol | Rec. Issue | Price at Rec. | Price on 12/16/2021 | Current Yield | Current Status |
| Small cap | Gannett Company | GCI | Aug 2017 | 9.22 | 4.76 | 0.0% | Buy (9) |
| Small cap | Duluth Holdings | DLTH | Feb 2020 | 8.68 | 14.84 | 0.0% | Buy (20) |
| Small cap | Dril-Quip | DRQ | May 2021 | 28.28 | 19.55 | 0.0% | Buy (44) |
| Mid cap | Mattel | MAT | May 2015 | 28.43 | 20.73 | 0.0% | Buy (38) |
| Mid cap | Conduent | CNDT | Feb 2017 | 14.96 | 5.05 | 0.0% | Buy (9) |
| Mid cap | Adient plc | ADNT | Oct 2018 | 39.77 | 43.68 | 0.0% | Buy (55) |
| Mid cap | Lamb Weston Holdings | LW | May 2020 | 61.36 | 57.22 | 1.6% | Buy (85) |
| Mid cap | GCP Applied Technologies | GCP | Jul 2020 | 17.96 | 31.82 | 0.0% | SELL |
| Mid cap | Xerox Holdings | XRX | Dec 2020 | 21.91 | 20.64 | 4.8% | Buy (33) |
| Mid cap | Ironwood Pharmaceuticals | IRWD | Jan 2021 | 12.02 | 11.17 | 0.0% | Buy (19) |
| Mid cap | Viatris | VTRS | Feb 2021 | 17.43 | 13.02 | 3.4% | Buy (26) |
| Mid cap | Vistra Corporation | VST | Jun 2021 | 16.68 | 20.93 | 2.9% | Buy (25) |
| Mid cap | Organon & Co. | OGN | Jul 2021 | 30.19 | 30.33 | 3.7% | Buy (46) |
| Mid cap | Marathon Oil | MRO | Sep 2021 | 12.01 | 15.36 | 1.6% | Buy (18) |
| Mid cap | TreeHouse Foods | THS | Oct 2021 | 39.43 | 41.14 | 0.0% | Buy (60) |
| Mid cap | Kaman Corporation | KAMN | Nov 2021 | 37.41 | 41.66 | 1.9% | Buy (57) |
| Mid cap | The Western Union Co. | WU | Dec 2021 | 16.40 | 18.49 | 5.1% | Buy (57) |
| Large cap | General Electric | GE | Jul 2007 | 304.96 | 92.53 | 0.3% | Buy (160) |
| Large cap | Royal Dutch Shell plc | RDS.B | Jan 2015 | 69.95 | 42.82 | 4.5% | Buy (53) |
| Large cap | Nokia Corporation | NOK | Mar 2015 | 8.02 | 6.06 | 0.0% | Buy (12) |
| Large cap | Macy’s | M | Jul 2016 | 33.61 | 24.27 | 2.5% | HOLD |
| Large cap | Credit Suisse Group AG | CS | Jun 2017 | 14.48 | 9.53 | 2.7% | Buy (24) |
| Large cap | Toshiba Corporation | TOSYY | Nov 2017 | 14.49 | 20.66 | 3.1% | Buy (28) |
| Large cap | Holcim Ltd. | HCMLY | Apr 2018 | 10.92 | 9.72 | 4.5% | Buy (16) |
| Large cap | Newell Brands | NWL | Jun 2018 | 24.78 | 22.42 | 4.1% | Buy (39) |
| Large cap | Vodafone Group plc | VOD | Dec 2018 | 21.24 | 15.06 | 6.8% | Buy (32) |
| Large cap | Kraft Heinz | KHC | Jun 2019 | 28.68 | 36.00 | 4.4% | Buy (45) |
| Large cap | Molson Coors | TAP | Jul 2019 | 54.96 | 45.00 | 3.0% | Buy (69) |
| Large cap | Berkshire Hathaway | BRK.B | Apr 2020 | 183.18 | 300.17 | 0.0% | HOLD |
| Large cap | Wells Fargo & Company | WFC | Jun 2020 | 27.22 | 50.30 | 1.6% | Buy (55) |
| Large cap | Baker Hughes Company | BKR | Sep 2020 | 14.53 | 24.27 | 3.0% | Buy (26) |
| Large cap | Western Digital Corporation | WDC | Oct 2020 | 38.47 | 56.71 | 0.0% | Buy (78) |
| Large cap | Altria Group | MO | Mar 2021 | 43.80 | 47.35 | 7.6% | Buy (66) |
| Large cap | Elanco Animal Health | ELAN | Apr 2021 | 27.85 | 27.98 | 0.0% | Buy (44) |
| Large cap | Walgreens Boots Alliance | WBA | Aug 2021 | 46.53 | 49.26 | 3.9% | Buy (70) |
Market cap is as-of the Initial Recommendation date.
Current status indicates the rating and Price Target in ( ).
Prices are closing prices as-of date indicated, except for those indicated by a "*", which are price as-of SELL recommendation date.
Please feel free to share your ideas and suggestions for the podcast with an email to either me at bruce@cabotwealth.com or to our friendly customer support team at support@cabotwealth.com. Due to the time limit we may not be able to cover every topic each week, but we will work to cover as much as possible or respond by email.
Disclosure: The chief analyst of the Cabot Turnaround Letter personally holds shares of every Rated recommendation. The chief analyst may purchase securities discussed in the “Purchase Recommendation” section or sell securities discussed in the “Sell Recommendation” section but not before the fourth day after the recommendation has been emailed to subscribers. However, the chief analyst may purchase or sell securities mentioned in other parts of the Cabot Turnaround Letter at any time.