Kenvue Stock Falls After RFK Jr. Tylenol Report and Earnings Miss
KVUE shares hit a 52-week low after a report linking Tylenol to autism, alongside weak quarterly earnings and lowered analyst price targets.
Trenton, September 5 EST: Kenvue Inc. (NYSE-KVUE), the Johnson & Johnson spin-off that was supposed to be a safe consumer health play, has landed in the crosshairs of regulators, politicians, and the market in the span of a single week. The stock has slid to a 52-week low after missing earnings, while a new controversy involving Tylenol and autism has stirred fears that the company’s most trusted brand may be staring down a storm of lawsuits and consumer hesitation.
A Blow From Washington
The sharpest blow came not from Wall Street but from Washington. According to the Wall Street Journal, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. plans to announce findings suggesting a link between Tylenol use during pregnancy and autism risk. He reportedly intends to pair that with claims about a folate-based treatment for autism symptoms.
The science is far from settled, but the optics are punishing. Tylenol is the backbone of Kenvue’s pain-relief business and a household staple. Even the suggestion of regulatory scrutiny raises the prospect of warning labels, court cases, and slower sales. Investors sold first and asked questions later, knocking nearly 10% off the stock in a single session.
Numbers That Don’t Help the Case
The timing couldn’t have been worse. Just days earlier, Kenvue reported Q2 earnings of $0.29 per share, missing analysts’ expectations of $0.35. Revenue came in at $3.84 billion, a shortfall from the $4.18 billion consensus. The miss sent the stock down to $19.70, its lowest point in the past year, and reinforced a view on the Street that the company is wrestling with slower demand and tighter margins.
Analysts at RBC Capital, Jefferies, and Canaccord Genuity trimmed their price targets, citing soft seasonal demand and cost pressures that don’t seem to be easing. The message was clear Kenvue isn’t growing fast enough to absorb bad headlines.
Insider Signals Add to the Noise
One disclosure added a political wrinkle. Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) reported selling between $1,001 and $15,000 worth of Kenvue stock on August 28. The sum is small by any measure, but in the current climate it adds fuel to speculation about whether lawmakers are bracing for further regulatory attention.
Hedge Funds Show a Split Screen
Institutional investors are far from unanimous on what happens next. Ancora Advisors LLC raised its stake by 2.6%, now holding just over 806,000 shares valued at about $19.3 million. To them, the drop may look like an entry point into a consumer brand portfolio that still includes Listerine, Band-Aid, and Neutrogena.
But Alyeska Investment Group L.P. took the opposite view, cutting its position by 24.1% and offloading more than 1.4 million shares. After the sale, the fund holds only 0.23% of the company. That divergence tells the story some see a buying opportunity, others see a value trap.
A Franchise Under Pressure
For all the turbulence, Kenvue is not a small-cap biotech hanging on clinical trial results. It owns decades-old brands that sit in medicine cabinets around the world. That stability was the pitch when J&J spun it out: steady cash flows from products people buy in good times and bad.
But consumer trust is its currency, and that’s exactly what’s under strain. If Tylenol becomes the subject of regulatory hearings or class-action lawsuits, Kenvue’s steady-eddy profile could start to look less dependable. Meanwhile, the earnings miss highlights a separate problem thin margins in a business that can’t afford missteps.
For now, the market is voting with its feet. Whether Kenvue stabilizes will depend on two fronts how aggressively regulators move on the Tylenol-autism claims, and whether management can convince investors it still has a grip on costs and growth.
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A Wall Street veteran turned investigative journalist, Marcus brings over two decades of financial insight into boardrooms, IPOs, corporate chess games, and economic undercurrents. Known for asking uncomfortable questions in comfortable suits.
