Gina Sanchez reveals her favourite European stock

Unilever plc (NYSE: UL) stands to benefit now that the COVID restrictions have been removed, says Gina Sanchez. She’s the Chief Market Strategist at Lido Advisors.

Unilever is attractive at the current price

At $45 a share, the multinational consumer goods company is currently trading under its pandemic low that makes it attractive in terms of valuation. On CNBC’s “The Exchange”, Sanchez said:

Unilever has been doing extraordinarily well now that we’re back in person and in a lot of ways, showering is back in Vogue.

In July, Unilever said it had a turnover of €15.8 billion in its fiscal second quarter – up about 17% on a year-over-year basis. The mega cap is headquartered in the United Kingdom but generates roughly 78% of its revenue from outside of Europe.

Earlier this year, Unilever named activist investor Nelson Peltz to its board. (link)

Why else does she like the Unilever stock

Sanchez is a proponent of owning low beta stocks in times of volatility and Unilever plc, with a beta of 0.13, meets that requirement. She also likes it for the dividend yield.

Unilever is another one that has reasonably low beta and it is also paying a 3.60% dividend yield. So, cash is great, defensiveness is great, and this is something you need.

Unilever stock is now at its 100-day moving average (roughly). Failure to meaningfully break below it would further strengthen the bull case. Last week, CEO Alan Jope also said the company was “undervalued”.  

Wall Street, though, has a consensus “hold” rating on its shares.