Morgan Stanley has increased its 12-month price target for Newell Brands Inc to $4.50 from $4.25, while keeping an Equalweight rating on the maker of consumer household items. The bank highlighted what it called "clear restructuring progress" at the company but balanced that acknowledgement with concerns about "continued topline softness" and "low visibility with margin volatility."
Shares of Newell were trading at $15.33, close to a 52-week high of $15.34, after posting a 17.37% gain over the past 12 months. The stock has returned 14.11% over the past six months and 5.08% year-to-date.
In its note, Morgan Stanley pointed to year-over-year declines in Newell's fourth-quarter results and flagged performance at the midpoint of the company's fiscal 2026 guidance as an area of concern. The analyst report called out pricing power volatility as a continuing operational challenge for the company known for household and office products.
Despite the operational and top-line pressures, Morgan Stanley described Newell's shares as trading at a "depressed valuation," a characterization the bank used to underline why the name may warrant attention despite the risks it sees. The combination of restructuring progress and a low valuation underpins the bank's decision to nudge up its target while remaining neutral on the stock.
Other broker-dealer reactions to Newell's recent developments have been mixed.
- UBS reduced its price target on Newell to $4.00 from $5.50 while retaining a Neutral rating, stating that fourth-quarter expectations are now sitting at the low end of the company's prior range after Newell updated its outlook.
- Canaccord Genuity reiterated a Buy rating with a $7.00 price target following meetings with Newell management, reporting that executives expressed confidence in the ongoing turnaround plan.
On the corporate action front, Newell announced a global productivity program that will eliminate more than 900 positions, roughly 10% of its professional and clerical workforce. The cuts are expected to be concentrated in the United States this month, with further international reductions phased through 2026.
The company also declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.07 per share, payable on December 15, 2025, to shareholders of record on November 28, 2025.
Analysts' commentary and the company's cost-reduction plan paint a picture of a business navigating an active turnaround: operational restructuring and workforce reductions are proceeding, while revenue growth and margin stability remain uncertain. For investors, the trade-off is between a management-led effort to improve efficiency and a backdrop of volatile pricing power and weak recent revenue trends.
Given the mixed analyst signals and the company's own guidance adjustments, market participants will likely monitor upcoming quarterly results and execution on the productivity program closely to assess whether restructuring gains can offset the topline and margin challenges that analysts flagged.