The Long Investor
Airline Captain & Investment Analyst, Technical/Fundamental Analysis
Insider buying points to opportunity in PepsiCo shares despite the market's pessimism. Former PepsiAmericas CEO Robert Pohlad spent $23.7 million on the stock during its deepest drawdown since the 2008 financial crisis. x.comÂ
PepsiCo is an easy buy for a long-term dividend portfolio because its diversified brands can adapt to shifting health trends. Gatorade, soda, snacks and energy drinks are categories people will never stop consuming, and the recent Poppi purchase shows that adaptability, making PepsiCo preferable even to McDonald's. @TheRonnieVShow notes the stock sits on a 17-year trendline that has held since 2009. x.com x.comÂ
PepsiCo's forecast for another year of just 3% growth leaves it nowhere close to cheap. It trades at 16 times 2027 earnings. x.comÂ
PepsiCo offers a share-price recovery bet as international growth continues and North American demand has room to improve. It owns Pepsi, Lay's, Doritos and Gatorade; Q2 revenue rose 6.4% to $24.2 billion, international beverages organic revenue grew 9%, and management still expects 5-7% core EPS growth in 2026. The recovery still has to happen, as North American beverage volume fell 4% last quarter. x.comÂ
PepsiCo is cheap against its cash earnings, trading at 12x, or 11x next year's, while beverage companies usually get 17x. That puts fair value at $189.68 to $241.41, 17x next year's cash earnings give or take 12%, leaving $128.50 about 32% under the low end. This is a valuation-levels read off reported earnings and revenue estimates, not fundamental work. x.comÂ
PepsiCo is under pressure because consumers can no longer really afford a can of soda, as the company cut its profit outlook citing a slower North American recovery. The stock is approaching its monthly 200-period moving average, a secular bear-market line that breaks only during economic depressions. If it breaks, $75 is the next level. x.comÂ
PepsiCo is extreme value because its falling share price has lifted the dividend yield to 4.6% at just 15 times this year's earnings. Its dividend has risen for more than five decades. x.comÂ
PepsiCo's valuation discount to Coca-Cola doesn't make sense: it trades at 17.75x earnings versus Coca-Cola's 26.70x, whatever one thinks of their sodas. x.comÂ
PepsiCo faces a death spiral as GLP-1 drugs shrink snack volumes while it raises prices. Per @wallstengine, citing Bloomberg, PepsiCo plans to lift prices on select chips, soda and dips by year-end or early 2027, months after cutting snack prices by up to 15% to revive demand. North American food revenue fell 2% last quarter on flat volumes. Less volume and higher prices together will destroy the snack companies. x.comÂ
Celsius is priced as if its story is over when the business is intact, setting up a 3x-4.3x return by 2030. At $28 and a $7.67B market cap, it has $2.97B of trailing revenue, expanding 12% net margins and $323M of free cash flow; its one bad year, 2024, came from a PepsiCo inventory flush unrelated to consumer demand. With 20% annual growth, single-digit international penetration and margins reaching 15%, 2030 EPS of $4.08 at 20-30x gives $82-122 a share. x.comÂ