The turnaround stories being overlooked by investors in 2023: Morning Brief
This is The Takeaway from today's Morning Brief, which you can sign up to receive in your inbox every morning along with:
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A week chock-full of learnings for this writer.
How about this one for starters: After seeing iconic 1980s rock band Foreigner on Wednesday night, I came away thinking my best days in life are ahead of me ... not behind me.
These 60-plus-year-old guys were rocking the house like 20-year-olds and had the crowd — including yours truly — eating out of the palms of their hands. Impressive efforts on stage, which included a reminder that all of their music was being sung and not powered by AI. Bearish for AI stocks? Unclear.
I also was reminded that this is one expensive stock market that is priced for perfection. And if that perfection isn't achieved, investors will pay dearly. And they paid this week, to an extent.
We continue to see global markets roiled a bit from Fitch's credit rating downgrade on US debt. Pricey tech stocks such as Nvidia (NVDA) are feeling a big brunt of the risk-off move.
All of this got me thinking maybe it's time for investors to find a few interesting turnaround situations to bet on. You know, well-known companies that have visible catalysts in place that investors have forgotten about amidst the summer hype for top-performing businesses.
And companies whose stocks aren't as inflated as the broader market, so there is already a ton of bad news priced in.
Take for instance chip giant Intel (INTC).
The company has had a brutal 12 months as CEO Pat Gelsinger slashes costs, builds new chip-making plants, and tries to catch up to AMD and Nvidia on design. A post-pandemic downturn in PCs hasn't helped Intel's fundamentals either.
But Intel looks to be turning the corner operationally, at least in the eyes of the energetic Gelsinger.
"The worst is behind us," Gelsinger told Yahoo Finance Live.
Gelsinger thinks the PC market will gradually recover this year, and the company has secured $1 billion-plus in commitments for AI-related chips. The company also remains on track to attain $8 billion in cost cuts by 2025.
This is a markedly different tone relative to when we talked a few months ago.
Is Intel hitting its stride? Who knows. But the situation appears way better than two quarters ago — and it may not be priced into the stock price of this iconic American company.
Another big business that may be beginning to see daylight after a tough stretch is toymaker Hasbro (HAS).
Hasbro unloaded its anchor-like entertainment business eOne to Lionsgate for $500 million this week. The sale removes a non-core asset from Hasbro's books, freeing up resources to invest in core toys.
This comes as Hasbro has seen stabilization in toy demand despite the juggernaut demand driver for rival Mattel (MAT) in the Barbie movie.
Speaking of resources, Hasbro is on pace to remove $250 million to $300 million in costs by year-end 2025.
Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks sounded pretty confident in our chat this week that his company's worst days were behind it too. Now onto some debt pay-down ($400 million) and marketing behind the red-hot-selling, Furby doll.
I would even add a small-cap name like grill-maker Traeger (COOK) into this turnaround play callout. The company has gotten its inventory levels into far better shape after a rough year. Demand for grills is stabilizing, and the CEO has been refocused on driving stronger operations.
"I truly believe we have turned around," Traeger CEO Jeremy Andrus told us.
Brian Sozzi is Yahoo Finance's Executive Editor. Follow Sozzi on Twitter @BrianSozzi and on LinkedIn. Tips on deals, mergers, activist situations, or anything else? Email brian.sozzi@yahoofinance.com.
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