Wells Fargo downgrades Estee Lauder, questions strategy

Wells Fargo downgraded Estee Lauder (EL) to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $72, down from $105, after the company pulled FY25 guidance and cut its dividend 47% as it gives incoming leadership room to invest. However, the firm thinks the company “may not fully grasp its core issue,” which the firm contends is solving “industry-worst” operating deleverage. Spending already looks full and the firm sees “little point spending when a key headwind is the China category.” The firm, which adds the “blueprint seems obvious to us,” says the company’s manufacturing and supply chain “is out of whack” and it questions the company’s strategy to spend, adding that it thinks the move down today is “not a buying opportunity.”