Bath & Body Works Inc (NYSE: BBWI)’s stock price has gone rise by 1.04 in comparison to its previous close of 37.61, however, the company has experienced a 3.74% increase in its stock price over the last five trading days. https://247wallst.com reported 2025-02-03 that According to Bloomberg, Lone Pine Capital made approximately $5 billion in investment gains for its investors in 2024. Founded by Stephen Mandel Jr. in 1996, the one-time Tiger Cub outsources the day-to-day operations but maintains a visible presence at the Greenwich-based hedge fund. In 2023, Mandel is said to have made $500 million personally, a nice rebound from Lone Pine’s losses in 2022, when the long/short fund lost 32%, while its long-only fund dropped 42%. It also has a fund for private investments. Given the gains in 2024, Mandel is likely to have recouped much of his losses from 2022’s terrible year in the markets. Bloomberg estimates the firm’s assets under management at $18.2 billion. According to its Q3 2024 13f holdings report, $13.41 billion was invested in 29 stocks, an average of $462 million per company. In the third quarter, the hedge fund closed out four stocks, added six positions, reduced its holdings in 12 stocks, and added nine new names. Lone Pine significantly reduced its exposure to one of the country’s leading providers of personal care and home fragrance products. Then, it turned around and poured the proceeds into another iconic brand. Here’s why. Key Points About This Article: Lone Pine Capital closed out its Bath & Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) holdings in Q3 2024 after nearly five years of owning the stock. Billionaire Stephen Mandel Jr.’s hedge fund poured the proceeds into Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX), a struggling but iconic American brand. The coffee chain’s turnaround is in the early stages, but CEO Brian Niccol is willing to look at all possible ideas to improve the business. Sit back and let dividends do the heavy lifting for a simple, steady path to serious wealth creation over time. Grab a free copy of “2 Legendary High-Yield Dividend Stocks” now. Holding for Four Years Is a Long Time for Most Hedge Funds Lone Pine sold 11.32 million shares of Bath and Body Works (NYSE:BBWI) in the third quarter, closing out its position after four-and-a-half years, an exceptionally long time for a hedge fund. When the hedge fund first acquired shares in the company in Q1 2020, it was still part of L Brands, Leslie Wexner’s retail conglomerate. Lone Pine acquired 26.27 million shares. In August 2021, L Brands spun out its Victoria’s Secret (NYSE:VSCO) into its own public company. As a result, L Brands was renamed Bath & Body Works. At the time of the spin-off, Lone Pine owned 24.30 million shares of BBWI and 8.61 million of VSCO. L Brands shareholders received one share of VSCO for every three shares held in the parent company. The hedge fund sold its entire position in Victoria’s Secret in Q2 2022. As of March 31, 2022, it had 22.22 million shares of BBWI. Therefore, Lone Pine sold 57% of its original position in Bath & Body Works (L Brands) over 17 quarters and the remaining 43% in the latest quarter. Why now? According to WhaleWisdom.com, Lone Pine’s average price for BBWI stock was $22.40. The hedge fund missed out on selling when BBWI’s share price hit $75 in late 2021. It likely sold the shares between $40 and $50 in the third quarter, figuring there were better opportunities elsewhere. The shares have rebounded since hitting a 52-week low of $26.21 last September. As the saying goes, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” It invested the approximate proceeds of $500 million in an even more iconic brand than Bath & Body Works, which L Brands founded in 1990 as Express Inc.’s beauty line. Starbucks Is on the Ropes The hedge fund acquired 4.05 million shares of Starbucks (NASDAQ:SBUX) in the third quarter at an estimated average price of $84.54. It instantly became Long Pine’s 18th-largest holding, accounting for 2.95% of its portfolio. While the hedge fund’s purchase of Starbucks, which cost approximately $320 million, wasn’t its most significant expenditure in Q3, it was the value/turnaround play of the nine new stocks bought during the quarter. As most investors know, former Chipotle Mexican Grill (NYSE:CMG) CEO Brian Niccol was hired by the company in August to turn around its struggling business. He’s been a very busy man ever since. On Oct. 31, Niccol revealed more of his turnaround strategy for the company. High on the list of things to change is the customization available on the mobile app. There are just too many options, and many of them are unnecessary. It makes life easier for the baristas and reduces the time spent making the drink. Anyone who regularly goes to Starbucks knows that the menu has become a telephone book of items to order. I get the same Americano with a splash of milk every time, though I might change that up once a month if I’m lucky. I have no idea who’s buying many of these products. So, Niccol is cutting the number of items offered. Too many choices have been proven to be a bad thing. Lastly, it wants to return to being a “third place” where customers go that’s neither work nor home. To do that, it has created a code of conduct for its stores that emphasizes the seating, wi-fi, and bathrooms for customers and employees. You probably won’t be kicked out for just minding your business, but if you linger without ordering, you could be asked to leave. That, to me, is Business 101. Give your most loyal customers a good experience, and they’ll be happy to keep spending. Starbucks stock hit an all-time high of $126.32 on July 1, 2021. Lone Pine is betting it can reach that sooner rather than later. I guess we’ll see. The post Billionaire Investor Jumps From One Iconic Brand to Another With Latest Move appeared first on 24/7 Wall St.
Is It Worth Investing in Bath & Body Works Inc (NYSE: BBWI) Right Now?
Bath & Body Works Inc (NYSE: BBWI) has a higher price-to-earnings ratio of 9.27x compared to its average ratio. BBWI has 36-month beta value of 1.84. Analysts have mixed views on the stock, with 8 analysts rating it as a “buy,” 4 as “overweight,” 7 as “hold,” and 0 as “sell.”
The public float for BBWI is 213.97M, and currently, short sellers hold a 3.15% ratio of that float. The average trading volume of BBWI on February 04, 2025 was 4.67M shares.
BBWI’s Market Performance
BBWI stock saw a decrease of 3.74% in the past week, with a monthly decline of -1.99% and a quarterly a decrease of 31.81%. The volatility ratio for the week is 3.82%, and the volatility levels for the last 30 days are 3.41% for Bath & Body Works Inc (BBWI). The simple moving average for the past 20 days is 2.17% for BBWI’s stock, with a 2.95% simple moving average for the past 200 days.
Analysts’ Opinion of BBWI
Many brokerage firms have already submitted their reports for BBWI stocks, with Wells Fargo repeating the rating for BBWI by listing it as a “Overweight.” The predicted price for BBWI in the upcoming period, according to Wells Fargo is $48 based on the research report published on January 10, 2025 of the current year 2025.
Telsey Advisory Group, on the other hand, stated in their research note that they expect to see BBWI reach a price target of $43, previously predicting the price at $42. The rating they have provided for BBWI stocks is “Outperform” according to the report published on November 26th, 2024.
Barclays gave a rating of “Underweight” to BBWI, setting the target price at $28 in the report published on November 08th of the previous year.
BBWI Trading at 2.67% from the 50-Day Moving Average
After a stumble in the market that brought BBWI to its low price for the period of the last 52 weeks, the company was unable to rebound, for now settling with -28.28% of loss for the given period.
Volatility was left at 3.41%, however, over the last 30 days, the volatility rate increased by 3.82%, as shares surge +0.24% for the moving average over the last 20 days. Over the last 50 days, in opposition, the stock is trading +20.83% upper at present.
During the last 5 trading sessions, BBWI rose by +3.74%, which changed the moving average for the period of 200-days by -13.02% in comparison to the 20-day moving average, which settled at $37.19. In addition, Bath & Body Works Inc saw -1.99% in overturn over a single year, with a tendency to cut further losses.
Insider Trading
Reports are indicating that there were more than several insider trading activities at BBWI starting from JULIE B ROSEN, who proposed sale 42,874 shares at the price of $39.03 back on Dec 10 ’24. After this action, JULIE B ROSEN now owns shares of Bath & Body Works Inc, valued at $1,673,218 using the latest closing price.
Boswell Gina, the Chief Executive Officer of Bath & Body Works Inc, purchase 6,000 shares at $29.64 during a trade that took place back on Oct 09 ’24, which means that Boswell Gina is holding 242,987 shares at $177,852 based on the most recent closing price.
Stock Fundamentals for BBWI
Current profitability levels for the company are sitting at:
- 0.17 for the present operating margin
- 0.44 for the gross margin
The net margin for Bath & Body Works Inc stands at 0.12. The total capital return value is set at 0.38.
Based on Bath & Body Works Inc (BBWI), the company’s capital structure generated 1.49 points at debt to capital in total, while cash flow to debt ratio is standing at 0.16. The debt to equity ratio resting at -3.06. The interest coverage ratio of the stock is 3.98.
Currently, EBITDA for the company is 1.55 billion with net debt to EBITDA at 3.29. When we switch over and look at the enterprise to sales, we see a ratio of 1.8. The receivables turnover for the company is 37.16for trailing twelve months and the total asset turnover is 1.49. The liquidity ratio also appears to be rather interesting for investors as it stands at 1.09.
Conclusion
To put it simply, Bath & Body Works Inc (BBWI) has had a mixed performance in recent times. Analysts have a bullish opinion on the stock, with some rating it as a “buy” and others as a “hold”. It’s important to note that the stock is currently trading at a significant distance from its 50-day moving average and its 52-week high.
