UBS’ Bottom Quant Stocks In AI, IT, Healthcare & Others: 29 Stocks In All Sectors

8. V.F. Corporation (NYSE:VFC)

Number of Hedge Fund Investors In Q2 2024: 30

Sector: Consumer Cyclical

V.F. Corporation (NYSE:VFC) is a large apparel company that focuses primarily on recreational products. It is a classic consumer cyclical firm with brands such as Timberland under its portfolio. Consequently, the fact that the stock is up by a lackluster 14% year to date is unsurprising. In fact, if we consider its performance from January to October 28th, the shares had actually lost 8.7%. However, the narrative surrounding V.F. Corporation (NYSE:VFC)’s shares switched after its fiscal Q2 became the first after two consecutive quarters to turn a profit. As it has struggled with profitability, the firm has undertaken a cost-saving strategy to spin off some businesses. Further impacts from this strategy to boost V.F. Corporation (NYSE:VFC)’s profit could help the shares.

Curreen Capital mentioned V.F. Corporation (NYSE:VFC) in its Q3 2024 investor letter. Here is what the fund said:

“V.F. Corporation (NYSE:VFC) manages apparel brands, including Dickies, The North Face, Timberland, and Vans. Under its prior CEO, the company’s poor capital allocation (including overpaying for Supreme and maintaining a too-high dividend after spinning out Kontoor) forced it to pause its model of using excess free cash flow to acquire good brands and manage them well. The company has now cut its dividend (twice) to a reasonable level and brought on a new CEO who has a track record of successfully turning around businesses. I believe that the company has good brands, the skills to manage them well, and a management team that is righting the ship. VF Corp currently trades at an attractive upside-to-downside ratio.”