Beiersdorf shares drop 1.5% after Deutsche Bank downgrades to Sell

Shares of Beiersdorf AG O.N. (ETR:BEIG) declined by more than 1% on Wednesday after Deutsche Bank reassigned the consumer staples company to Sell from Hold, citing sustained pressure on consumer spending and structural challenges across the sector.

The stock dropped 1.5% to €75.38, underperforming the broader German market, where the DAX lost approximately 0.5% during early European trading.

In the same sector review, Deutsche Bank also cut Danone to Sell and lowered its target to €61 from €63, while reducing Haleon’s target to 320 pence from 335 pence. It upgraded Henkel to Buy and raised its target to €81 from €76, and lifted its price objective for The Magnum Ice Cream Company to €15.5 from €13.5.

Deutsche Bank kept its €70 price target unchanged, according to its European Consumer Staples research note. Analyst Tom Sykes noted that European staples stocks were trading at their lowest relative level to the broader market in 18 years, yet the bank still expected the sector to underperform.

The bank projected that consumer wallets would expand more slowly than nominal GDP, a trend it argued would weigh on staples companies’ earnings and valuations. Meanwhile, the sector continues to face mounting structural headwinds and heightened competition.

Channel shift is a key concern for home, personal care, and food companies, Deutsche Bank argued. Amazon, Costco, and to a lesser extent Walmart are driving U.S. category growth while pressuring traditional drug channels and, increasingly, grocery retailers other than Walmart.

That dynamic could diminish “sell-in” volumes relative to actual consumer offtake, the bank said, making it cautious about investment cases built on a U.S. market rebound. Deutsche Bank expects this shift in purchasing channels to become a more pronounced global issue.

The downgrade was part of a wider reassessment of the European consumer staples sector.