Q: Can Valentine stocks pay off ahead of Feb. 14?
A: Professing one's love on Feb. 14 has been a time-honored tradition since the Middle Ages. But some investors might say, forget the mushy stuff, can I profit from this day?
There's no question Valentine's Day has increasingly become a time to buy cards, gifts and flowers for one's beloved. As long ago as the 1700's in Europe, the holiday was already a way to use one's wallet to display affection.
But things have only accelerated the in modern era as companies are quick to produce Valentine's Day themed goods. For some companies, especially some makers of chocolates and providers of flowers, Valentine's Day is their make-or-break season.
Profiting from Valentine's Day, for investors, isn't quite as easy. Many of the giants in the industry are privately held, and cannot be invested in. Kansas City, Mo, is home to two of the kings of Valentine's Day: Card seller Hallmark and boxed candy maker Russell Stover Candies. Both are private and cannot be invested in. American Greetings was the largest publicly traded greeting card company until 2013, the year it decided to go private.
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There are some options, though. Hershey, the largest U.S. maker of candy, is public and trades by the symbol HSY. And then there's the recently spun-off flower delivery service, FTD. It trades by the symbol FTD. Most of the large diversified food companies, too, make Valentine themed candies. And don't forget L Brands, the company that owns Victoria's Secret.
There's also the matter of timing, which complicates things even more. Shares of Hershey actually fell 1.2%in the five days after Valentine's Day last year. Investors anticipate the February bump in business at the Valentine's-related companies and price the stocks! accordingly.
So it seems that Valentine's Day isn't just a bust for Charlie Brown, but for investors, too.
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