The toy industry has suffered in the past few years as COVID-19 shut down retail stores. Rising raw material costs and shipment delays have also hurt earnings. The easing pandemic and the opportunity to build back even stronger earnings is why activist investors are now targeting toymakers Hasbro and Mattel, and their top brands.


HASBRO INC....

Medical device maker Enovis (formerly called Colfax) recently spun off its non-medical businesses as a separate firm called ESAB.


We feel the split makes a lot of sense, as there was little overlap between the two businesses. Focusing on their separate markets should spur both “pure-play” stocks higher over the next few years.


ENOVIS CORP....

BROOKFIELD ASSET MANAGEMENT INC. $59 is a hold. The company (Toronto symbol BAM.A; Finance sector; Shares outstanding: 1.6 billion; Market cap: $94.4 billion; Dividend yield: 1.2%; Takeover Target Rating: Lowest; www.brookfield.com) is an asset manager that controls firms in the real estate, renewable power, infrastructure and private equity industries.


The company plans to spin off its asset management business into a separate, publicly listed company....

COVID-19 lockdowns slowed the progress of Yum Brands and its spinoff Yum China. (The two split in November 2016.) Even so, Yum is still up an impressive 76% since the spinoff, while Yum China has gained a strong 69%.


We still like the long-term outlook for both stocks even as new lockdowns in China hurt Yum China’s current sales and earnings.


The truth is pandemic lockdowns encouraged both companies to accelerate the adoption of digital ordering and delivery services....

A: Monster Beverage Corp., $88.71, symbol MNST on Nasdaq (Shares outstanding: 529.7 million; Market cap: $47.2 billion; www.monsterbevcorp.com), markets energy drinks under the Monster Energy brand.

Monster is the second-largest energy drink brand behind Red Bull....

A: Skechers U.S.A. Inc., $37.87, symbol SKX on New York (Shares outstanding: 134.9 million; Market cap: $5.7 billion; www.skechers.com), is a California-based manufacturer of men’s, women’s and kid’s footwear.

As of March 31, 2022, the company had 4,308 stores worldwide, of which 1,350 were company-owned and 2,958 were owned by third parties....

A: LifeWorks Inc., $17.44, symbol LWRK on Toronto (Shares outstanding: 69.3 million; Market cap: $1.2 billion; www.lifeworks.com), provides technology-enabled solutions to support its clients.

This includes offering services in employee and family assistance, health and wellness, recognition, pension and benefits administration, retirement consulting, and actuarial and investment services

The company has 6,000 employees in offices across North America....

Recently a friend asked, “Pat, I see that several prominent Canadian investor advisors recently wrote articles that said it’s a bad time to buy bonds right now. Do you agree?”

He was surprised when I told him I haven’t bought any bonds for myself since the 1990s....

EUROPEAN WAX CENTER INC., $25.83, symbol EWCZ on Nasdaq, is a leading franchisor of out-of-home hair removal services.

Founded in 2004 by brothers David and Joshua Coba, the company offers waxing services as well as selling its own line of products....

TEXAS ROADHOUSE INC., $78.54, is a buy. The company, symbol TXRH on Nasdaq, is a full-service, casual-dining restaurant chain with 672 locations spread across 49 U.S. states and 10 foreign countries. Each of those restaurants operates under one of three banners—Texas Roadhouse (632 locations), sports restaurant Bubba’s 33 (36), and Jaggers (4)....