Unilever Plc and Las Vegas Sands Corp are among stocks with upsides in the current bear market but for different reasons, according to Ellen Lee, a portfolio manager at Causeway Capital Management.
Las Vegas Sands is likely to benefit as China eases its Covid-19 lockdowns, which have thwarted travel to the firm’s casinos in Macau, Lee said Friday during an interview on Bloomberg Television’s “Wall Street Week.” Unilever, the consumer-products giant with brands including Ben & Jerry’s ice cream and Dove beauty products, is likely to improve earnings because activist investor Nelson Peltz joined the board and will spur a faster pace of boosting profitability, she said.
“We believe the activist being there will really push the management to accelerate that timetable,” Lee told host David Westin. “They’re doing things internally to really energize their sales.”
US stocks rose during the holiday-shortened the week after a stronger-than-expected employment report eased recession fears and cleared the path for the Federal Reserve to raise rates aggressively to combat inflation.
But one good week doesn’t signal a bottom of the bear market that made the first half of 2022 the worst start to a year since 1970, according to Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist at Charles Schwab Corp.
“There’s still some storms that have to be weathered with bouts of volatility,” Sonders said on “Wall Street Week.”
