Are you familiar with any of these brands: Schick, Playtex, Hawaiian Tropic? They’re all fairly well-known personal care brands owned by Edgewell Personal Care (EPC), a business created in July 2015, after it spun off its Energizer Holdings (ENR) subsidiary. 

On Tuesday, EPC stock just hit a 20-year low. It has lost nearly 22% in the past five days alone. Typically, on Wednesday, I’ll discuss stocks hitting 52-week highs or lows. However, I couldn’t resist taking a contrarian, value approach to today’s commentary given the woeful state of Edgewell’s business and share price. 

If you've owned EPC stock over the past 20 years, you've been the victim of significant shareholder destruction. But don't feel bad, Energizer shareholders have also faced a similar fate. This is one example where one plus one does not equal three. 

That's not to say that aggressive investors shouldn't be sniffing around both stocks for potential value buys in a market that seems overheated.  If you're risk-tolerant, here's why you might want to buy EPC stock. 

Edgewell Still Makes Money

Most of the 22% decline in Edgewell's share price over the past week was inflicted yesterday after it reported woefully inadequate Q3 2025 results. Missing Wall Street expectations for both the top and bottom lines, it was the company’s guidance for fiscal 2025 (September year-end) that really made investors sick to their stomachs.

Here’s what CEO Rod Little had to say about the third quarter:

“This was a challenging quarter, with our top and bottom-line performance falling below expectations, significantly impacted by very weak Sun Care seasons in North America and certain Latin American markets. Furthermore, the operating environment remains challenging with both tariffs and foreign exchange contributing to full-year profit headwinds,” StockStory reported Little’s comments.  

I haven’t looked closely at Edgewell’s financials in recent years, but it’s clear that this is a business that’s struggled for some time. This report shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone who’s followed its business closely. 

According to S&P Global Market Intelligence, over the past decade, Edgewell's revenues have ranged from a high of $2.61 billion in 2014 to a low of $1.95 billion in 2019. Generally, they’ve remained flat around $2.2 billion. Zero sales growth will erode investor confidence. Over the same decade, its EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization) margin has fallen from 18.5% in 2014 to 15.0% in 2024.  

Finally, the company expects its 2025 EBITDA profit to be $312 million, down from $338 million a year ago, and lower than the average analyst estimate of $335.5 million. 

Despite all of the doom and gloom, four of eight analysts still rate it a Buy (3.63 out of 5), with a target price of $31, over 50% higher than its current share price.

My guess as to why analysts haven’t completely thrown in the towel on EPC stock is that it still makes money. The company expects to generate earnings per share of $2.65 for the year. Based on this guidance, its shares trade at just 7.7 times its 2025 EPS.

The S&P 500 forward P/E is 22.3x, and the S&P 500 Consumer Staples forward P/E is 21.6x. By either valuation multiple, EPC is dirt cheap. 

Is There a Buyer in the Wings?

One would think that Edgewell would be a desirable target for private equity investors. 

Its stock is cheap, it has several brands with name recognition, and while its $1.2 billion in net debt is higher than its current market cap, the fact that it remains cash flow positive means that with a bit of tweaking and perhaps selling off some of its lesser brands, it could be acquired with significant leverage, something that becomes more doable as interest rates fall.

Consider this.

EPC stock hit an all-time high of $107.37 on May 1, 2015. In fiscal 2015, it had $2.42 billion in revenue and an EBITDA profit of $426 million, an EBITDA margin of 17.6%, about 410 basis points higher than in the trailing 12 months ended June 30. 

Care to guess what its forward P/E was in May 2015? It was 20.2x, almost three times higher than its current multiple. At the same time, its net debt was $1.0 billion, $200 million less than it is today.

I’m not suggesting that EPC stock should trade anywhere near a multiple of 20x earnings. However, suppose you’re a private equity investor. In that case, the idea of buying a company for 10 times earnings (a 25% premium from today) and selling down the road for 20 times earnings should be worthy of consideration. 

Will it happen? I have no idea, but it’s another reason why bottom feeders should be interested in taking a flyer on Edgewell.  

The Options Play to Lower Risk

Yesterday's options volume for Edgewell was the highest it's been in the past three months. Unfortunately, it doesn’t trade much. The 30-day average is just 29 contracts. Yesterday’s volume was 13 times that amount.

Looking as far out as possible, there was a trade yesterday for three contracts on the Feb. 20/2026 $25 call. The ask price of $0.70 is just 2.8% of the $25 strike price. Instead of spending $2,029 on 100 shares, buy a $25 call for $70. It will cost you more to go to the movies. 

Of course, getting one of these bad boys is easier said than done, given the lack of volume, but it’s a low-risk way to bet on a stock that’s been lost in the wilderness for a very long time.