New York, May 16, 2026, 11:33 (EDT)
- McCormick closed Friday at $46.35, down 0.34%, after a week that took the stock as low as $44.82.
- The NYSE is shut for the weekend; regular trading is due to resume Monday, May 18, after Friday’s broader U.S. market pullback.
- The main overhang remains McCormick’s planned combination with Unilever Foods, a deal that would sharply expand the spice maker but also raise financing and execution questions.
McCormick & Company shares ended the week lower, closing Friday at $46.35, as investors kept pressing the stock after a choppy stretch tied to the company’s planned Unilever Foods combination.
The timing matters. There is no Saturday session on the New York Stock Exchange, and the next regular core session is set for Monday, while Friday’s wider market tone was weak: the S&P 500 fell 1.2% and the Dow lost 1.1% after a rise in oil prices pushed yields higher and hurt risk appetite.
McCormick’s tape was not clean. The stock opened Monday at $48.49, hit a week low of $44.82 on Wednesday, bounced Thursday and then failed to hold momentum into Friday, according to company stock data sourced from LSEG.
The fall has kept focus on the March deal with Unilever. McCormick and Unilever said they would combine McCormick with Unilever’s Foods business, excluding India and other carved-out assets, to create a company with about $20 billion in combined fiscal 2025 revenue. Unilever and its shareholders are expected to hold 65% of the combined company; current McCormick shareholders would own 35%.
The structure is a Reverse Morris Trust, or RMT — a tax-efficient transaction in which a company spins off a unit and merges it with another business. Unilever is also due to receive $15.7 billion in cash, subject to closing adjustments.
McCormick Chief Executive Brendan Foley called the tie-up one that would “accelerate McCormick’s strategy” and said integration would need “disciplined execution.” Unilever CEO Fernando Fernández said the transaction was a step toward a €39 billion pureplay home and personal care company. McCormick & Company, Inc.
Analysts have not treated the deal as simple. RBC analyst James Edward Jones questioned the “minimal control premium” for Unilever shareholders, while Chris Beckett, consumer staples analyst at Quilter Cheviot, told Reuters the deal would be “transformational for McCormick” but only incremental for Unilever. Reuters
McCormick’s latest earnings gave bulls something to point to. The company said first-quarter net sales rose 17%, helped by the McCormick de Mexico acquisition, and adjusted earnings per share rose to 66 cents from 60 cents a year earlier. It also reaffirmed fiscal 2026 adjusted EPS guidance of $3.05 to $3.13.
But the stock is trading more on deal risk than one quarter of earnings. The transaction is expected to close by mid-2027 and still needs McCormick shareholder approval and regulatory approvals. McCormick also said the combined company’s net leverage — debt measured against earnings power — is expected to be 4.0 times or less at closing, with a plan to return to 3.0 times within two years.
The competitive read is uneven. MarketWatch data showed McCormick outperformed Kraft Heinz, Archer-Daniels-Midland and Conagra on Thursday’s bounce, but it had underperformed the same peer set on Wednesday, when the shares fell 2.63%. That points to stock-specific uncertainty, not just a packaged-food selloff.
The risk case is straightforward: if financing costs rise, regulators take a harder look, or investors sour further on McCormick’s 35% post-deal ownership, the stock could retest the week’s low near $44.82. Commodity costs, trade-policy uncertainty and geopolitical pressure also remain in the company’s own 2026 outlook.
For Monday, the near-term forecast is weak-to-range-bound unless fresh filings, analyst action or financing news change the tone before the open. A move back above $47.16, Thursday’s high, would steady the tape; a break below $45.75, Friday’s low, would put Wednesday’s $44.82 in play. Trading Economics projects McCormick at $47.32 by quarter-end and $44.44 in one year, a model-based forecast that leaves little room for a clean rerating without more deal confidence.
