Feb. 18 at 6:51 PM
PickAlpha Midday:
Nestlé is weighing another step back from ice cream as new CEO Philipp Navratil reviews the portfolio — including potentially trimming its stake in Froneri (the JV housing brands like Häagen-Dazs/Mövenpick) and/or folding remaining wholly-owned local ice cream ops into Froneri. The backdrop is simple: Nestlé stock is near an 8-year low (down ~40% from its 2022 peak), while key peers have meaningfully outperformed — so the market is forcing “simplify + sharpen capital allocation” decisions.
Tickers:
$NSRGY $UL $DANOY
Our view is this is a classic self-help setup: exit/monetize lower-conviction assets to decomplexify and potentially fund deleveraging/buybacks. If Nestlé can show proceeds are real and reallocated into faster-growth/higher-return categories, the “discount to peers” narrative can start to close; if it’s just shuffling minority stakes without a broader margin/growth reset, it won’t move the needle.
