Report
Zain Akbari, CFA
EUR 101.80 For Business Accounts Only

Hostess CEO's Retirement Is a Disappointment, but Overreaction Creates Opportunity in Shares

While CEO Bill Toler’s retirement announcement is a blow to narrow-moat Hostess Brands, we see the shares’ nearly 15% dip since the news was announced late Oct. 12 as a buying opportunity, with our $15.30 fair value estimate intact. Toler, slated to depart in March, had a large role in resuscitating Hostess after it emerged from a 2012 liquidation, spurring its return to market with a lower-cost production and distribution network as well as renewed focus on expansion into new channels that has ...
Underlying
Hostess Brands Inc. Class A

Hostess Brands is a packaged food company. The company produces Hostess?, Dolly Madison?, Cloverhill? and Big Texas? products at bakeries located in Emporia, KS; Columbus, GA; Indianapolis, IN; and Chicago, IL. In-store bakery products are produced at bakeries located in Southbridge, MA. The company has invested in baking and packaging technology, including installing two Auto-bake systems and fully-automated packaging systems. A portion of the company's products are co-manufactured and packaged under its brands and sold through its distribution facilities. The company's Direct-to-Warehouse distribution model uses centralized distribution centers and common carriers to fill orders, with products.

Provider
Morningstar
Morningstar

Morningstar, Inc. is a leading provider of independent investment research in North America, Europe, Australia, and Asia. The company offer an extensive line of products and services for individual investors, financial advisors, asset managers, and retirement plan providers and sponsors.

Morningstar provides data on approximately 530,000 investment offerings, including stocks, mutual funds, and similar vehicles, along with real-time global market data on more than 18 million equities, indexes, futures, options, commodities, and precious metals, in addition to foreign exchange and Treasury markets. Morningstar also offers investment management services through its investment advisory subsidiaries and had approximately $185 billion in assets under advisement and management as of June 30, 2016.

We have operations in 27 countries.

Analysts
Zain Akbari, CFA

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