Bank of America reiterates its 'buy' recommendation and €40 target price for Ahold Delhaize shares (cp: €35.5, -0.3%), judging that its reinvestment plan in the United States has got off to a good start with improved volume trends and manageable price pressure on margins.
The year 2025 represents the peak of margin pressure, the broker estimates, anticipating a price impact of around 20 basis points 'stable from there' and profitability of online activities providing a tailwind for 2026.
Stop & Shop's recovery can succeed given the scale of investment and lower-than-feared structural pressure, the broker added in its note on the Belgo-Dutch retailer.
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Ahold Delhaize N.V. is one of the world leaders in retailing. Net sales break down by activity as follows:
- retail distribution in the United States (60.7%): operated, at the end of 2024, 2,017 stores broken down by names between Food Lion (1,109), Stop & Shop (362), Giant/Martin's (193), Hannaford (189) and Giant Food (164). The group is also active in sale and home or workplace delivery of groceries through the Website Peapod.com;
- retail distribution in Europe (39.3%): operated 5,748 stores under the names Albert Heijn (1,276 in the Netherlands and Belgium), Mega Image (985 in Romania), Delhaize (818 in Belgium and Luxembourg), Gall & Gall (629 in the Netherlands), Ena Food (613 in Greece), Delhaize Serbia (556 in Serbia), Etos (510 in the Netherlands), Albert (647 in the Czech Republic) and AB (14 in Greece). Ahold Delhaize N.V. is also active in sale and home or workplace delivery of groceries through the Website bol.com.
Net sales are distributed geographically as follows: the Netherlands (21.4%), Europe (18%) and United States (60.6%).
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