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KR or KVUE or UL
Which Stock Would AI Choose? Kroger Co. (KR) vs. Kenvue Inc. (KVUE) vs. Unilever PLC (UL) Stock Comparison
Key Takeaways
- KR has shown strong year-to-date gains of around 18%, outperforming the S&P 500 amid investments in store upgrades and fuel rewards programs.
- KVUE trades at modest YTD returns near 1%, with recent analyst price target hikes to $19 following solid Q4 results, though legal challenges persist.
- UL has experienced recent price pressure with a roughly 17% monthly decline, offset by advanced talks for a major food business merger with McCormick.
- All three operate in consumer staples, offering defensive positioning, but KR leads in momentum while KVUE and UL face sector headwinds like weak growth.
- Relative performance highlights KR's resilience in recent market activity compared to peers' mixed signals.
Introduction
This stock comparison examines KR, KVUE, and UL, all key players in the consumer staples sector. KR is a leading U.S. grocery retailer, KVUE focuses on consumer health products, and UL provides global personal care and food items. Investors seeking defensive exposure amid market volatility, such as rising geopolitical tensions and commodity shifts, may find value in analyzing their relative performance, growth drivers, and sentiment. This review draws on recent market data to highlight contrasts in momentum, valuations, and strategic developments for informed stock comparison.
KR Overview and Recent Performance
The Kroger Co. (KR), one of the largest U.S. food retailers, operates over 2,700 supermarkets, pharmacies, and fuel centers across 35 states, emphasizing omnichannel shopping. In recent market activity, KR shares have traded around $73, with year-to-date returns near 18%, surpassing the S&P 500's 7%. This momentum stems from Q4 revenue of $34.7 billion and improved gross margins to 23.1%, alongside $112 million in Ohio store investments and enhanced fuel rewards amid rising gas prices. Sentiment benefits from analyst upgrades, with price targets lifted to $83, though weak growth trends pose ongoing pressures.
KVUE Overview and Recent Performance
Kenvue Inc. (KVUE), the world's largest pure-play consumer health company spun off from Johnson & Johnson, markets brands like Tylenol, Neutrogena, and Listerine across self-care, skin health, and essential health segments. Recently, shares hover near $17, posting modest year-to-date gains around 1% and 24% over one year. Q4 revenue reached $3.78 billion, beating estimates with adjusted EPS of $0.27, prompting analyst targets to rise to $19 from Barclays and others. Performance reflects post-spin-off adjustments and a pending $48.7 billion Kimberly-Clark acquisition, tempered by litigation risks over product claims.
UL Overview and Recent Performance
Unilever PLC (UL), a global consumer goods giant, offers products in beauty & wellbeing, personal care, home care, and foods through iconic brands. Shares trade around $60, with year-to-date returns near 8% but a 17% drop in recent weeks amid sector challenges. Key influences include advanced talks to merge its foods unit with McCormick in a $16 billion cash-and-stock deal creating a $60 billion entity, alongside a global hiring freeze due to Middle East conflict impacts. These developments drive mixed sentiment in a tough market for staples.
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Head-to-Head Comparison
KR, KVUE, and UL share consumer staples resilience but diverge in business models: KR's retail focus contrasts KVUE's health products and UL's broad goods portfolio. Growth drivers include KR's store investments versus UL's potential M&A (mergers and acquisitions, deals combining companies). Recent momentum favors KR at 18% YTD, over KVUE's 1% and UL's pressures. Risk factors encompass KVUE's litigation and UL's geopolitical hiring pause, while KR navigates weak sales growth. Valuation sensitivity is lower for KR (P/E around 16x), and market sentiment tilts toward KR's stability amid staples underperformance.
Tickeron AI Verdict
Tickeron’s AI currently favors KR due to superior trend consistency, YTD outperformance, and catalysts like operational investments, positioning it strongly relative to KVUE and UL. While UL's merger talks offer upside potential and KVUE benefits from acquisition clarity, KR's stability suggests higher probability of near-term relative gains in volatile conditions.
Disclaimer
The information on this webpage is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as investment advice, a recommendation to purchase or sell any security, or an offer or solicitation related to investments. It does not consider your personal financial situation, goals, or risk profile, and all investing carries inherent risks, including the possibility of losing your entire investment. For more details, please review our full disclaimer. Disclaimers and Limitations
Long-Term Analysis
It is best to consider a long-term outlook for a ticker by using Fundamental Analysis (FA) ratings. The rating of 1 to 100, where 1 is best and 100 is worst, is divided into thirds. The first third (a green rating of 1-33) indicates that the ticker is undervalued; the second third (a grey number between 34 and 66) means that the ticker is valued fairly; and the last third (red number of 67 to 100) reflects that the ticker is undervalued. We use an FA Score to show how many ratings show the ticker to be undervalued (green) or overvalued (red).
KR’s FA Score shows that 2 FA rating(s) are green whileKVUE’s FA Score has 1 green FA rating(s), and UL’s FA Score reflects 0 green FA rating(s).
- KR’s FA Score: 2 green, 3 red.
- KVUE’s FA Score: 1 green, 4 red.
- UL’s FA Score: 0 green, 5 red.
Short-Term Analysis
It is best to consider a short-term outlook for a ticker by using Technical Analysis (TA) indicators. We use Odds of Success as the percentage of outcomes which confirm successful trade signals in the past.
If the Odds of Success (the likelihood of the continuation of a trend) for each indicator are greater than 50%, then the generated signal is confirmed. A green percentage from 90% to 51% indicates that the ticker is in a bullish trend. A red percentage from 90% - 51% indicates that the ticker is in a bearish trend. All grey percentages are below 50% and are considered not to confirm the trend signal.
KR’s TA Score shows that 4 TA indicator(s) are bullish while KVUE’s TA Score has 5 bullish TA indicator(s), and UL’s TA Score reflects 4 bullish TA indicator(s).
- KR’s TA Score: 4 bullish, 6 bearish.
- KVUE’s TA Score: 5 bullish, 5 bearish.
- UL’s TA Score: 4 bullish, 5 bearish.
Price Growth
KR (@Food Retail) experienced а +0.29% price change this week, while KVUE (@Household/Personal Care) price change was +1.50% , and UL (@Household/Personal Care) price fluctuated +0.33% for the same time period.
The average weekly price growth across all stocks in the @Food Retail industry was +2.31%. For the same industry, the average monthly price growth was +2.04%, and the average quarterly price growth was +3.08%.
The average weekly price growth across all stocks in the @Household/Personal Care industry was +0.96%. For the same industry, the average monthly price growth was +3.95%, and the average quarterly price growth was -8.44%.
Reported Earning Dates
KR is expected to report earnings on Jun 11, 2026.
KVUE is expected to report earnings on May 13, 2026.
Industries' Descriptions
@Food Retail (+2.31% weekly)The food retail industry includes companies that sell food, beverage and household products. Items sold include grocery, gourmet food, fresh produce, and frozen food. Kroger Co., George Weston Ltd., Grocery Outlet Holding Corp., and Sprouts Farmers Markets, Inc. are examples of major food retailers. While e-commerce companies like Amazon have increasingly been ramping-up offerings in the food retail space, several traditional players have also been expanding their online presence to stand their ground against rising competition.
@Household/Personal Care (+0.96% weekly)Household/Personal Care companies sell products for home cleaning and/or personal hygiene and grooming purposes. Products of this industry include detergents, shampoos, soaps, cosmetics, fabric conditioners and infant care fragrances. Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Estee Lauder and Colgate-Palmolive are some of the biggest names in the business. A lot of the products become a necessary part of people’s daily routine, and therefore the industry is relatively less vulnerable to macroeconomic downturns. At the same time, product quality, consumer safety, and ease of use are extremely critical factors for a company to survive competition and earn recognition in this industry.
| KR | KVUE | UL | |
| Capitalization | 41.8B | 33.8B | 127B |
| EBITDA | 5.76B | 2.99B | 11.3B |
| Gain YTD | 9.686 | 3.256 | -9.822 |
| P/E Ratio | 44.28 | 23.17 | 19.14 |
| Revenue | 148B | 15.1B | 59.8B |
| Total Cash | 4.58B | 1.06B | N/A |
| Total Debt | 24.7B | 8.67B | N/A |
KR | UL | ||
|---|---|---|---|
OUTLOOK RATING 1..100 | 54 | 51 | |
VALUATION overvalued / fair valued / undervalued 1..100 | 55 Fair valued | 39 Fair valued | |
PROFIT vs RISK RATING 1..100 | 24 | 81 | |
SMR RATING 1..100 | 56 | 97 | |
PRICE GROWTH RATING 1..100 | 59 | 79 | |
P/E GROWTH RATING 1..100 | 10 | 83 | |
SEASONALITY SCORE 1..100 | 50 | 65 |
Tickeron ratings are formulated such that a rating of 1 designates the most successful stocks in a given industry, while a rating of 100 points to the least successful stocks for that industry.
UL's Valuation (39) in the Household Or Personal Care industry is in the same range as KR (55) in the Food Retail industry. This means that UL’s stock grew similarly to KR’s over the last 12 months.
KR's Profit vs Risk Rating (24) in the Food Retail industry is somewhat better than the same rating for UL (81) in the Household Or Personal Care industry. This means that KR’s stock grew somewhat faster than UL’s over the last 12 months.
KR's SMR Rating (56) in the Food Retail industry is somewhat better than the same rating for UL (97) in the Household Or Personal Care industry. This means that KR’s stock grew somewhat faster than UL’s over the last 12 months.
KR's Price Growth Rating (59) in the Food Retail industry is in the same range as UL (79) in the Household Or Personal Care industry. This means that KR’s stock grew similarly to UL’s over the last 12 months.
KR's P/E Growth Rating (10) in the Food Retail industry is significantly better than the same rating for UL (83) in the Household Or Personal Care industry. This means that KR’s stock grew significantly faster than UL’s over the last 12 months.
| KR | KVUE | UL | |
|---|---|---|---|
| RSI ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 57% | 3 days ago 59% | 3 days ago 34% |
| Stochastic ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 66% | 3 days ago 65% | 3 days ago 58% |
| Momentum ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 49% | 3 days ago 52% | 3 days ago 37% |
| MACD ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 54% | 3 days ago 62% | 3 days ago 38% |
| TrendWeek ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 62% | 3 days ago 55% | 3 days ago 40% |
| TrendMonth ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 53% | 3 days ago 62% | 3 days ago 46% |
| Advances ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 57% | 3 days ago 54% | 11 days ago 42% |
| Declines ODDS (%) | 5 days ago 46% | 7 days ago 65% | 6 days ago 42% |
| BollingerBands ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 57% | 3 days ago 54% | N/A |
| Aroon ODDS (%) | 3 days ago 44% | 3 days ago 61% | 3 days ago 40% |
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| 1 Day | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| ETFs / NAME | Price $ | Chg $ | Chg % |
| CGRO | 25.25 | 0.96 | +3.93% |
| CoreValues Alpha Greater China Gr ETF | |||
| FBY | 11.45 | 0.14 | +1.24% |
| YieldMax META Option Income Strategy ETF | |||
| HAPI | 42.95 | 0.39 | +0.91% |
| Harbor Human Capital Factor US LrgCapETF | |||
| TOTL | 39.98 | 0.14 | +0.35% |
| State Street® DoubleLine® TR Tact ETF | |||
| RZB | 25.15 | -0.02 | -0.08% |
| Reinsurance Group of America | |||
KVUE and
Correlation & Price change
A.I.dvisor indicates that over the last year, KVUE has been loosely correlated with KMB. These tickers have moved in lockstep 39% of the time. This A.I.-generated data suggests there is some statistical probability that if KVUE jumps, then KMB could also see price increases.
| Ticker / NAME | Correlation To KVUE | 1D Price Change % | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| KVUE | 100% | +0.86% | ||
| KMB - KVUE | 39% Loosely correlated | +0.89% | ||
| CL - KVUE | 30% Poorly correlated | +2.62% | ||
| PG - KVUE | 28% Poorly correlated | +2.67% | ||
| UL - KVUE | 27% Poorly correlated | +2.18% | ||
| CLX - KVUE | 26% Poorly correlated | +2.15% | ||
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