Starboard says Kenvue’s skin health segment is weighing on performance

By Svea Herbst-Bayliss

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Starboard Value called consumer products company Kenvue (NYSE:KVUE) a bargain and said its skin health and beauty segment’s lackluster growth is the reason for the stock’s underperformance.

Starboard Chief Investment Officer Jeffrey Smith said there is an opportunity to improve revenue growth and margins at the segment which has the Neutrogena and Aveeno brands.

“They need to focus on skin health beauty,” Smith said, joking “this sounds simple, right? Now they just have to do it.”

The hedge fund has built a sizable stake in the consumer products company that makes Band-Aid, Listerine, and Tylenol. Kenvue went public last year and is worth roughly $44 billion.

Kenvue, previously a part of Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ), has seen its stock price fall 18% since the company was listed publicly in May, 2023. It closed trading at $22.92 per share on Monday.

Smith was speaking at the 13D Monitor Active-Passive Investor Summit.