Will Activist Investor Get His Way at Campbell?

Companies and Brands

Published: July 3, 2018 10:20 am

Last Updated: January 11, 2020 9:31 pm

Campbell Soup Co. (NYSE: CPB) shares saw a nice bounce on Tuesday after activist investor Dan Loeb was said to be shaking things up. Loeb’s message seems pretty simple and is an appropriate measure considering the direction in which the soup maker has been headed recently.

Campbell’s stock has been in free fall for the past year. This was a $60 stock as recently as February 2017, and it has hit lows not seen in over five years in the past two weeks. The stock has only now just recovered from mid-May when it last reported earnings and its CEO resigned.

Like every other activist investor — with the exception of maybe Bill Ackman — Loeb sees the company as undervalued and is petitioning the board to do something about it.

According to the New York Post, Loeb’s Third Point hedge fund is in talks with family members who control roughly 41% of Campbell’s shares and with independent Campbell investors about supporting a plan that would result in hiring a bank to explore a possible sale of the 149-year-old company. This comes from two sources close to the situation, said the New York Post.

It was previously rumored, by the New York Post again, that Kraft Heinz Co. (NASDAQ: KHC) may be looking to gobble up the soup maker. Almost any deal that Campbell might get out of Kraft may just be worth it to the shareholders to get this stock off their hands.

Shares of Campbell Soup were last seen up about 4% at $41.87, with a consensus analyst price target of $35.85 and a 52-week range of $32.63 to $54.37.