Until the Federal Reserve starts to cut interest rates, CNBC’s Jim Cramer on Tuesday advised investors to hold off on buying shares of Mondelez, a company behind a host snack and candy brands like Oreos, Chips Ahoy, Cadbury and Ritz crackers.
“The stock’s run up dramatically, so if you want a piece of it, wait until the Fed starts cutting rates and the packaged food stocks will most likely pull back, maybe hard, because the run in Mondelez is hard to justify in a world where the Fed’s stimulating the economy,” he said. “But, longer term, a well-run snack food company is a great place to be.”
Mondelez stock jumped over the past few weeks, now up more than 4% since the beginning of September, according to FactSet. To Cramer, Wall Street has embraced recession-proof food companies like Mondelez as investors worry about an economic slowdown.
But because Cramer said he thinks interest rate cuts are imminent, he said it’s wise to be selective about the kind of stocks one owns from the currently red-hot packaged goods sector. Lower rates makes these stocks “go out of style in the Wall Street fashion show,” he added. He also expressed concerns about the effect of GLP-1 weight loss drugs on snack food companies as a whole.
While the market’s favorable attitude towards the category may explain some of Mondelez’s gains, Cramer pinpointed some strategies that he thinks make the company poised for future success. At its most recent conference call, the company’s CEO Dirk Van de Put described a steady consumer appetite for snacks even as peers in the food and beverage industry report weakness, adding that volume growth is starting to rebound as inflation cools.
Cramer also noted that Mondelez sells “smaller form factor sweets,” which appeal to those taking GLP-1 medications who might want to eat snacks, just in lesser quantities. According to Cramer, unlike some of its competitors, Mondelez acknowledged the potential business ramifications of these drugs. In an interview with Bloomberg TV, Van de Put said the company is monitoring the impact of GLP-1 drugs “quite carefully” and predicts that in a decade they will “have an effect between 0.5% and 1% of our volume.”
“In the end, that sounds pretty optimistic to me, but at least they tried to address the issue,” Cramer said. “Even if management’s wrong, and Mondelez is truly being hurt by the GLP-1s, it’s clear that the higher-end snacking category’s so strong, it can keep thriving regardless.”
Mondelez did not immediately respond to request for comment.
