The Stockout

Consumer packaged goods companies (CPGs) and retailers are among the largest intermodal shippers. Today’s edition of The Stockout highlights data relevant for shippers that utilize rail intermodal or are looking to move in that direction for transportation savings and/or to promote dedication to environmental, social and governance (ESG) initiatives.  Will there truly be a peak […]

How well will consumer packaged goods (CPG) purchases ultimately hold up?  Not only is CPG demand forecasting arguably more difficult than ever, it is also more critical than normal since many CPGs have to decide whether to continue with high-cost contract manufacturing that served as a way to find capacity during the pandemic when demand […]

General Mills’ supply chain disruptions to persist At a Wall Street conference earlier this month, Jonathan Nudi, General Mills’ president of North American retail, said, “We’re seeing 10 times the number of disruptions in our supply chain from an ingredient standpoint coming into our plants than we ever experienced before. And this gets really challenging […]

This week’s CPG news items reflect a continuation of recent food/beverage trends.  More crossover between soft drink and alcoholic drinks: Monster Beverage is the latest soft drink company to get into adult beverages by acquiring CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective, an owner of craft breweries, in a deal worth $330 million. Other recent examples of category […]

Instead of discussing the current CPG news and freight data per my usual, for today’s newsletter I highlight the CPG industry trends I expect to see in 2022.  Trend No. 1: Consumer behavior will change in response to rising prices, at least among lower-income consumers. The topic of the hour is inflation, which hit a […]

Before getting into CPG news, here are two near-term events for your calendar:  On Friday, The Stockout show is focused on the railroad industry and features a true industry expert (not referring to myself). I will be interviewing Tony Hatch, an independent railroad consultant and longtime senior transportation analyst on Wall Street. He is fresh […]

Before getting into what’s happening in CPG supply chains, here’s something for your calendar: I host the next quarterly The Stockout webinar on Dec. 6 at 2 p.m. ET. Here’s the link to register. Last quarter, there was a great turnout, and the discussion was enhanced by the many participants who asked thoughtful and pertinent […]

Before getting into what’s happening in CPG supply chains, here’s something for your calendar: I host the next quarterly The Stockout webinar on Dec. 6 at 2 p.m. ET. Here’s the link to register. Last quarter, there was a great turnout, and the discussion was enhanced by the many participants who asked thoughtful and pertinent […]

On this episode of The Stockout, Mike Baudendistel dissects the changes in consumer behavior and what they indicate about the return to normal life post-pandemic.

On this episode of The Stockout, Mike Baudendistel explores how one alternative milk company is aiming high on the stock market.

On this episode of The Stockout, Mike Baudendistel explores rising prices and the threat of inflation as stocks plummet.

On this episode of The Stockout, Mike Baudendistel explains how the declining U.S. birth rate is affecting the consumer market.

Wall Street didn’t like Clorox’s earnings report late last week. There were analyst downgrades and shares are down from where they were a week ago and down 10% from their level three months ago. The company is in a tough spot with uncertainty over whether demand for its cleaning products will remain elevated as COVID […]

In past editions of The Stockout, I’ve discussed cost inflation trends, which I believe is the industry’s largest issue currently aside from pandemic-related structural changes in demand. In recent days, many of the large CPG companies provided additional detail on pending price increases to pass those costs on to consumers. While that’s not a surprise, […]

On this episode of The Stockout, Mike Baudendistel explains why it is not as simple as one may think to utilize intermodal transportation to reduce truckload emissions.

On this episode of The Stockout Mike Baudentistel explores the possibility of companies hitting the market soon.

In today’s The Stockout, I discuss first-quarter earnings reports from Pepsi and L’Oreal. L’Oreal, in particular, has a lot of momentum of late with shares reaching all-time highs as investors seem to be intrigued by investing in cosmetics as a play on life returning to normal and the burgeoning Chinese middle class. Meanwhile, Pepsi’s results […]

On this episode of Freightonomics, Anthony Smith and Zach Strickland look at some big decisions affecting Amazon workers and how much cash Evergreen will be coughing up.

FreightWaves’ Mike Baudendistel hosts a new podcast, The Stockout, and breaks down the consumer packaged goods market from manufacture to consumption.

When we look back at the COVID era, we will remember stockouts of toilet paper, cleared-out grocery store shelves and the impossibility of getting the latest video game console because of the semiconductor shortage. Today, consumer goods are still serving as a reminder that COVID is not fully behind us. Just as there are still […]