Zoetis Inc. (ZTS): Did this Feminist Stock Soar High in Q1?

We recently compiled a list of the 11 Best Feminist Stocks To Invest In. In this article, we are going to take a look at where Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) stands against the other feminist stocks.

With the passage of time, the role of women in the modern day workplace has slowly started to grow. In less than a century, more women not only lead companies but are also among some of the wealthiest individuals in the world. At the same time, women have demonstrated that they are equal to men when it comes to disrupting industries. One of the best examples of this phenomena is America’s best known rocket company SpaceX. While SpaceX is famous for its founder and billionaire Elon Musk, the firm’s chief operations officer and president Gwynne Shotwell has been equally responsible for its massive success in the rocket industry which has dislodged decades of monopolies held by a few defense contractors.

In fact, this rising trend of women leading the charge at some of the biggest companies in the world has also generated interesting statistics when it comes to compensation. Data from Equilar shows that in 2023, out of the 341 CEOs part of the study, 25 were women. Their median pay package stood at $17.6 million, which according to Equilar, was 7.7% higher than the figure for the complete data set. At the same time, the 25 female CEOs saw five new executives added to the list when compared to 2022.

Considering this, it would appear that the gender pay gap in the US appears to be narrowing. To confirm this, we’ll have to look at the pay statistics for the entire country as opposed to only S&P 500 CEOs. Well, on this front, data gathered by Pew shows that there’s a lot to be done. The research firm points out that in 2002, women earned 80% of what men were paid. Two decades later, i.e. in 2022, this stood at 82%, indicating that there’s a lot more to be done to decrease the wage gap between the two genders. However, at the same time, younger women might be changing these trends. This is because according to Pew, women aged between 25 and 34 earned 92% of their male counterparts, which is quite higher than the figure of 86% in 2002.

With these details in mind, we decided to take a look at the best feminist stocks to invest in.

Our Methodology

To make our list of the best feminist stocks to invest in, we ranked publicly traded Fortune 500 companies with female CEOs by the number of hedge funds that had bought the shares in Q1 2024. Why do we care about what hedge funds do? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter’s strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points (see more details here).

A veterinarian administering a vaccine to a herd of cattle in a farm.

Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)

Number of Hedge Fund Shareholders In Q1 2024: 65

CEO: Kristin C. Peck

Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) is a diversified animal healthcare company that provides medicines, diagnostic equipment, and other products. While its earnings performance has been mixed lately as Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) has beaten adjusted analyst EPS estimates in just two of its four latest quarters, the average of 14 one year analyst share ratings is Strong Buy and the average share price target is $212.29. The latest earnings report released in May 2024 was a solid set of results. It saw Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)  beat adjusted EPS estimates of $1.35 and revenue estimates of $2.15 billion by posting $1.35 and $2.2 billion in the segments respectively. As a result, the shares soared by more than 4% after the earnings report.

Owing to its business model of being one of few pure play animal health companies on Wall Street enables Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS)’s forward P/E ratio of 29.76 to exceed the S&P’s 21. This implies that investors expect the shares to outpace the broader market in growth terms. Baron Funds mentioned Zoetis Inc. (NYSE:ZTS) in its Q1 2024 investor letter and shared:

Zoetis Inc. is a global leader in medicines and vaccines for companion and farm animals, operating in more than 120 countries across eight core species and five major product categories. Shares fell after the company reported mixed fourth quarter results that fell short of high market expectations and issued below-consensus 2024 guidance. While revenue beat Street forecasts primarily on higher sales in the livestock category, EPS missed consensus due to FX headwinds, costs associated with an acquired asset, and investments related to the U.S. launch of canine arthritis drug Librela. Investor concerns about new parasiticide competition and inefficiencies with the Librela ramp also weighed on the share price. Zoetis remains an attractive holding given its consistent above-market growth, diverse portfolio and rich pipeline, new and innovative product flow, and attractive end-markets that have proven resilient in periods of heightened economic uncertainty.

Overall ZTS ranks 8th on our list of the best feminist stocks to buy. You can visit 11 Best Feminist Stocks To Invest In to see the other feminist stocks that are on hedge funds' radar. While we acknowledge the potential of ZTS as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than ZTS but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock.

 

READ NEXT: Analyst Sees a New $25 Billion "Opportunity" for NVIDIA and Jim Cramer is Recommending These 10 Stocks in June.

 

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.