Tupperware was nearly out of business, but, reports The Robin Report, it may have been saved, for now. Arick Wierson writes:
Way back in May of this year – I know that’s only a few months ago but with the entirety of summer sandwiched in between now and then it now seems like an eternity has passed – business scribes were getting ready to write their eulogies for the iconic American household brand Tupperware (TUP). Why? It had just announced that there was “substantial doubt about the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.” (In case you’re wondering, that’s business-speak for ‘we’re pretty much screwed.’)
According to a 2023 Harris poll, younger millennials and Gen Zers are highly suspicious of the Tupperware brand which made a name for itself by selling plastic, and the company has also become a target among the environmentalists looking to end the world’s dependence on plastics and a host of other hydrocarbon derivatives.
But it appears that America wasn’t ready just yet to part ways with the iconic brand that brought us classics like the Five Piece Ribbed Servalier Storage Set or the Ham Flavor Saver Storage Server Container. How could Americans possibly go on without continued access to the Caribbean Sea Tortilla Keeper or the Jel-N-Serv Gelatin Tulip Mold?
The Market Throws Tupperware a Lifeline
Thanks to a handful of lenders and possibly, just maybe, a band of Dumb Money retail investors, Tupperware weathered its late Spring brush with death.
In August, the Orlando-based maker of plastic kitchen and household doodads announced – much to the elation of many a homemaker across the country – that the company had reached a deal with its creditors to restructure interest payments on outstanding debt while securing a new line of financing. And just like that … or like a Fridgesmart container with last week’s roast beef dinner forgotten in the depths of the fridge … Tupperware was back!
Well, sort of.
Meme Stock
As the market began to get wind that the company was no longer on the brink of ending its 77-year run as the go-to brand for leftovers and home-packed school lunches, the stock price shot up from a near 52-week low of $0.64 a share to just under $5.50. Despite this impressive gain, many observers at the time speculated that Tupperware’s rally was due less to any change in its business fundamentals or long-term prospects; rather, its shares had simply the good fortune to become the latest everyman meme stock Tupperware. Just like GameStop, Tupperware had likely benefited from a band of retail investors that had joined forces on social media to direct their speculative bets on an otherwise underperforming company just to stick it to big-money institutional investors with significant short positions in the stock. Note: The company is still far, far away from where it was trading only a few years ago in the mid $30 range.
Nonetheless, while creditors had given Tupperware something of a lifeline, it is a rather short one. Rehabilitating Tupperware and getting it back on top of the storage market will fall on the shoulders of its CEO, Miguel Fernandez. And he has his work cut out for him.
According to a 2023 Harris poll, younger millennials and Gen Zers are highly suspicious of the Tupperware brand which made a name for itself by selling plastic, and the company has also become a target among the environmentalists looking to end the world’s dependence on plastics and a host of other hydrocarbon derivatives. The company has also become the scourge of health and safety advocates who cite a long laundry list of reasons why plastic food storage is simply a terrible idea (not the least of which is that BPA-based plastics leech toxins into the food).
Read more here.
