Newell Brands: Initiation Of Coverage – Are Its Business Development Efforts Paying Off In The Form Of International Market Growth? 

This is our first report on Newell Brands, the American global consumer goods player. The company has made notable progress in its turnaround agenda during 2023, as indicated in their fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings conference call. To start with, the company’s sales outperformed expectations, driven by stronger-than anticipated U.S. demand. Normalized gross margin improved consistently quarter-on-quarter and made a positive shift in the latter half of the year, propelled by record-breaking productivity performance and a pricing action implemented in July that proactively addressed situations where unit economics were untenable. Moreover, operating cash flow rose $1.2 billion from 2022, surpassing the company’s forecast with the removal of about $700 million in inventory.