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Otis Worldwide (OTIS) has announced a significant upgrade to its Gen3 Core elevator lineup, now featuring larger door openings, increased load capacity, and smart digital enhancements. These additions are designed to better serve low-rise buildings across the U.S. and Canada.

See our latest analysis for Otis Worldwide.

These Gen3 Core enhancements arrive as Otis Worldwide’s share price has traded sideways recently, holding near $88.85. The company has achieved a long-term total shareholder return of 47% over five years, indicating steady value creation. While the year’s total return is down 12%, momentum is showing subtle signs of recovery with a modest 2.9% gain in the last three months. This suggests investors may be responding to product innovations and renewed growth prospects.

If news of Otis’s upgraded technology has you curious about what else might be out there, it could be the perfect time to discover fast growing stocks with high insider ownership

With these product upgrades and a modest recent rebound in share price, is Otis currently undervalued by the market and offering a compelling entry point, or is future growth already reflected in today’s price?

Otis Worldwide’s most widely followed narrative sees the stock trading well below an updated fair value estimate, with share price lagging advanced growth projections. This fair value suggests analysts are seeing upside potential from today’s $88.85 closing price.

The accelerating momentum in modernization orders, up 22% in the quarter and supported by a record-high backlog, positions Otis to benefit from the global trend of aging building infrastructure. This trend is expected to drive a multi-year growth cycle for modernization and associated high-margin service revenue, with a positive impact on both revenue and earnings.

Read the complete narrative.

Ready to see the big drivers behind Otis’s surge in fair value? Earnings projections, margin gains, and a play for future market share are at the core of this story. Analysts are betting on growth levers you might not expect. Discover how ambitious assumptions are shaping this price target.

Result: Fair Value of $103.25 (UNDERVALUED)

Have a read of the narrative in full and understand what’s behind the forecasts.

However, persistent weakness in China or a downturn in commercial real estate demand could quickly erode Otis’s growth outlook and undermine current analyst optimism.

Find out about the key risks to this Otis Worldwide narrative.

While fair value estimates signal Otis shares are undervalued, a look at the price-to-earnings ratio offers a different angle. Otis trades at 25.7 times earnings, slightly above the Machinery industry’s average of 24.8 but noticeably below the peer average of 33.9. The fair ratio our models suggest is 26.7, indicating that today’s pricing leaves little room for error if industry sentiment shifts. Could valuation risks outweigh the upside if growth fails to accelerate?

See what the numbers say about this price — find out in our valuation breakdown.

If you see the numbers differently or want to dig deeper into the data yourself, you can shape your own Otis Worldwide narrative in just a few minutes. Do it your way.

A great starting point for your Otis Worldwide research is our analysis highlighting 2 key rewards and 2 important warning signs that could impact your investment decision.

Smart investing means staying ahead of the curve. Don’t miss your chance to uncover stocks redefining growth, value, and innovation using Simply Wall Street’s powerful tools.

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Companies discussed in this article include OTIS.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com

• Ever wondered if Host Hotels & Resorts could be trading for less than it’s truly worth? You’re not alone, and today’s market gives us plenty of reasons to dig into the numbers.

• After climbing 9.6% over the past month and returning 33.7% in five years, the stock has shown there is both growth potential and fresh investor interest bubbling beneath the surface.

• New developments in the hospitality sector, such as increased travel demand and strategic acquisitions by competitors, have added some optimism and volatility to hotel REITs. Recent headlines point to shifting trends in business and leisure travel, which have also contributed to the latest movement in Host’s share price.

• On our six-point valuation check, Host Hotels & Resorts scores a 4 out of 6 for being undervalued, making it a compelling candidate for deeper analysis. We will break down how that score is calculated and, more importantly, explore an even smarter approach to understanding the company’s real worth by the end of the article.

Host Hotels & Resorts delivered 1.2% returns over the last year. See how this stacks up to the rest of the Hotel and Resort REITs industry.

The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model projects a company’s future cash flows and discounts them back to today’s value, providing an estimate of what the business is fundamentally worth. For Host Hotels & Resorts, this approach uses adjusted funds from operations to forecast future free cash flow and then applies a discount rate to translate those future dollars into today’s terms.

Currently, Host Hotels & Resorts reports Free Cash Flow of $1.387 billion. While analysts provide reliable estimates for up to five years, Simpy Wall St extrapolates further, showing projected annual Free Cash Flows between $1.12 billion and nearly $1.2 billion over the next decade. The methodology accounts for both modest growth and periods of stability as typical in the hotel and resort REITs sector.

Using this conservative projection framework, the resulting intrinsic value per share is $28.46. Compared to the current market price, this indicates the stock is trading at a 38.1% discount to its estimated value.

Result: UNDERVALUED

Our Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis suggests Host Hotels & Resorts is undervalued by 38.1%. Track this in your watchlist or portfolio, or discover 914 more undervalued stocks based on cash flows.

Head to the Valuation section of our Company Report for more details on how we arrive at this Fair Value for Host Hotels & Resorts.

The Price-to-Earnings (PE) ratio is a widely used benchmark for valuing profitable companies like Host Hotels & Resorts. It measures how much investors are willing to pay for each dollar of earnings, making it a practical tool for comparing companies in the same industry or with similar growth profiles.

Generally, companies with higher expected earnings growth or lower risk profiles tend to have higher PE ratios, while those with slower growth or higher perceived risk tend to have lower multiples. A “normal” or “fair” PE is shaped not just by profits but also by factors such as stability, sector trends, and investor sentiment.

Host Hotels & Resorts currently trades at a PE ratio of 16.43x. This is just above the Hotel and Resort REITs industry average of 15.63x, but well below the peer average of 24.74x. This means the stock appears relatively modestly priced given both the industry context and what direct competitors trade at.

Rather than relying only on peer or industry averages, Simply Wall St has developed the proprietary “Fair Ratio” metric, which in this case stands at 29.92x. The Fair Ratio sets a tailored benchmark based on Host Hotels & Resorts’ earnings growth, its profit margins, specific risk profile, and market cap. It is designed to account for more than surface-level comparisons, giving a richer view of fair value for the stock.

Since Host Hotels & Resorts’ current PE ratio of 16.43x is well below its Fair Ratio of 29.92x, the stock appears undervalued by this measure and may have attractive upside potential for investors seeking value in the sector.

Result: UNDERVALUED

PE ratios tell one story, but what if the real opportunity lies elsewhere? Discover 1437 companies where insiders are betting big on explosive growth.

Earlier we mentioned that there is an even better way to understand valuation, so let’s introduce you to Narratives. A Narrative connects your story or perspective about a company, such as your forecasts for fair value, revenue growth, and profit margins, to a financial forecast and ultimately a fair value estimate. This allows you to visualize how different assumptions may play out over time.

Narratives transform traditional stock research into a dynamic process where investors can align their view of a company’s future with real numbers. This makes it easy to see how changing your outlook or new events impact the valuation. Narratives are available within the Simply Wall St Community page and are used by millions of investors to compare Fair Value and current Price, supporting more confident investment decisions as information evolves.

Because Narratives update automatically when new data or news comes in, your analysis stays timely without extra effort. For example, one investor might use an optimistic Narrative for Host Hotels & Resorts, citing improved revenue growth rates and a bullish price target of $22.00, while another could focus on market risks and assign a conservative $16.00 target. Narratives let you explore both stories, see the numbers behind them, and decide which aligns best with your own view.

Do you think there’s more to the story for Host Hotels & Resorts? Head over to our Community to see what others are saying!

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Companies discussed in this article include HST.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com

• Wondering if Amneal Pharmaceuticals is a hidden value or a stock that’s already run its course? You’re not alone, and plenty of investors are taking a close look at the numbers right now.

• After an incredible 61.3% gain year-to-date and a remarkable 415.2% return over three years, the share price has caught serious momentum. This suggests growing optimism or changing risk perceptions around the company.

• Much of the recent buzz traces back to industry developments and regulatory updates that have placed Amneal in the spotlight, sparking both excitement and debate among market watchers. Wider trends in generic pharmaceuticals and recent product approvals have fueled speculation about the company’s next moves.

• Based on our valuation framework, Amneal scores 5 out of 6 on our valuation checks, which puts it ahead of most of its peers. Here is a closer look at what those metrics really mean, along with a fresh perspective on finding real value that goes beyond the basics.

Amneal Pharmaceuticals delivered 51.4% returns over the last year. See how this stacks up to the rest of the Pharmaceuticals industry.

The Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) model estimates a company’s intrinsic value by projecting future cash flows and then discounting them back to their present value. This approach helps investors understand what the company is truly worth today based on expected future performance.

For Amneal Pharmaceuticals, the DCF analysis uses a two-stage Free Cash Flow to Equity method. The latest reported Free Cash Flow is $245.66 Million, with analysts expecting robust growth ahead. By 2027, projections place annual Free Cash Flow at $500 Million. Extrapolations suggest that figure could reach over $1.1 Billion by 2035, reflecting continued future expansion. Analyst estimates provide inputs for the first five years, while longer-term numbers are modeled by Simply Wall St using industry growth trends.

Based on this model, the estimated intrinsic value of Amneal Pharmaceuticals is $69.18 per share. In comparison to its current share price, this result indicates the stock trades at a significant 81.9% discount relative to its calculated fair value, which suggests potential undervaluation.

Result: UNDERVALUED

Our Discounted Cash Flow (DCF) analysis suggests Amneal Pharmaceuticals is undervalued by 81.9%. Track this in your watchlist or portfolio, or discover 914 more undervalued stocks based on cash flows.

Head to the Valuation section of our Company Report for more details on how we arrive at this Fair Value for Amneal Pharmaceuticals.

The price-to-sales (P/S) ratio is often the preferred valuation metric for companies like Amneal Pharmaceuticals, especially when profits are relatively low or volatile but revenue trends remain steady. For profitable companies, the P/S ratio offers a clear sense of what investors are willing to pay for each dollar of sales. This makes it a practical tool for comparing valuations, particularly in fast-evolving sectors such as pharmaceuticals.

It is important to remember that growth expectations and company-specific risks play a large role in determining what constitutes a “normal” or fair P/S ratio. Companies with higher growth rates or lower risks typically warrant a higher ratio, while those facing headwinds tend to trade at a lower ratio.

Currently, Amneal trades at a P/S ratio of 1.34x. This compares to the pharmaceutical industry average of 4.18x and the peer average of 17.11x, suggesting the market is placing a lower value on each dollar of Amneal’s sales relative to its competitors.

However, Simply Wall St’s proprietary Fair Ratio goes further by factoring in unique aspects of Amneal’s business, such as its projected earnings growth, profit margin profile, market capitalization, and any business-specific risks. Unlike a simple peer or industry comparison, the Fair Ratio is a comprehensive benchmark designed to reflect what the multiple truly should be. Amneal’s Fair Ratio is 2.90x.

Comparing Amneal’s current multiple to the Fair Ratio indicates the stock is meaningfully undervalued by this measure, with a significant gap between its P/S of 1.34x and its Fair Ratio of 2.90x.

Result: UNDERVALUED

PS ratios tell one story, but what if the real opportunity lies elsewhere? Discover 1437 companies where insiders are betting big on explosive growth.

Earlier we mentioned that there is an even better way to understand valuation, so let’s introduce you to Narratives. A Narrative is your personalized story behind a stock. It connects your expectations for the company’s future (such as revenue growth, earnings, and margins) with a financial forecast and a resulting fair value, all in one place.

Rather than just relying on static metrics, Narratives add context to the numbers by letting you articulate the key drivers and risks you believe matter most. On Simply Wall St’s Community page, millions of investors use Narratives to build, compare, and follow these dynamic investment outlooks, making them both accessible and actionable.

Narratives make it easy to monitor your investment rationale: they continuously show how your fair value compares to the current price, and automatically update whenever news or financial results change the outlook.

For example, some investors see Amneal Pharmaceuticals’ global expansion and robust pipeline as reasons to assign a higher fair value, while others point to industry risks and high debt as justification for more conservative estimates. Narratives help you weigh both perspectives, ensuring that your investment decision is shaped by your own view, not just the latest headline.

Do you think there’s more to the story for Amneal Pharmaceuticals? Head over to our Community to see what others are saying!

This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

Companies discussed in this article include AMRX.

Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Western banks have been the biggest beneficiaries of Hong Kong equity sales this year, shrugging off US-China tensions as dealmaking booms in Asia’s financial hub.

Morgan Stanley helped raise $11.6bn in equity offerings in the year to the end of November, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. Goldman Sachs was in second position after raising $7.4bn, followed by Chinese banks Citic and CICC and Switzerland’s UBS.

The data includes both initial public offerings and follow-on share sales by companies already listed in the territory, including a $4.6bn share sale by the world’s largest battery maker CATL and the IPO of mining company Zijin Gold.

Hong Kong’s capital markets have been revived by a wave of Chinese companies raising billions of dollars in the city, which is on track for a four-year high in IPO fundraising. Foreign investors are showing renewed interest in Chinese equities after years of shunning the market.

“For huge deals you still need these global brands,” said Alicia García Herrero, chief Asia-Pacific economist at Natixis. “The reason why they still need Goldman or Morgan Stanley is they want to attract foreign investment, especially into the big deals like BYD,” she said, referring to the Chinese electric vehicle and battery maker that had a $5.6bn share sale in March. 

Hong Kong-listed ECM activity hit $73.1bn so far this year, up 232 per cent on the same period in 2024, according to data from LSEG.

“We’ve seen quite a strong turnaround with respect to equity issuance from Chinese companies in Hong Kong,” said Saurabh Dinakar, head of Asia Pacific global capital markets at Morgan Stanley.

Rising US-China tensions have put the banks’ operations in Hong Kong under more scrutiny. This month, a US congressional committee wrote to Morgan Stanley’s chief executive Ted Pick to request more information on the bank’s underwriting of Zijin Gold, the offshore arm of China’s Zijin Mining.

The committee alleged that Zijin Mining is associated with human rights abuses in the Xinjiang region of China and has “deep ties” to the communist party.

Morgan Stanley declined to comment on this matter.

Federico Bazzoni, executive chair of Eight Capital Partners, said Chinese companies “need these [western] banks to reach out to international investors”. He added: “Of course, you’ve got the trade war and political tension but I think the markets are opportunistic.”

Chinese banks have expanded in Hong Kong, with the goal of taking a larger share of advisory fees in the territory, where deals often have bigger fees compared with mainland China.

CICC, a prominent mainland investment bank, recently announced a plan to acquire two smaller brokerages.

“We are seeing Chinese securities firms expanding aggressively in Hong Kong,” said Rowena Chang, a director at rating agency Fitch. “Typically they want a US investment bank and a local investment bank as joint sponsors.”

Chinese banks CICC, Citic Securities and Huatai Securities top this year’s Hong Kong deal volume for IPOs alone.

They have established relationships with Chinese companies that are already listed on a mainland bourse, said Jean Thio, a partner in the capital markets group at law firm Clifford Chance, which has advised on 18 IPOs in Hong Kong this year.  

Chinese banks are important partners for mainland companies seeking to list in Hong Kong because of their close channels of communication with regulators in Beijing such as the China Securities Regulatory Commission, which must give mainland companies approval before they list offshore.

“Communication with the CSRC is important and that’s where the PRC banks have strengths,” Thio added. 

Data by Haohsiang Ko

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Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

One of the world’s biggest cyber insurers is pulling back from the market as it contends with rising claims and falling prices, even as rivals extend their bet on policies covering hacks and ransom demands.

Beazley reported this week that cyber gross written premiums, a measure of top-line revenue, declined 8 per cent in the nine months to September 30 to $848mn, sending shares in the FTSE 100 insurer tumbling on the day.

“There’s more claims, and they’re more expensive,” chief underwriting officer Paul Bantick told the Financial Times. He said a rise in ransomware attacks and hackings had been fuelled by rising geopolitical volatility, as cyber gangs used such tactics to sow distrust.

“What we’re trying to understand is why the market’s not reacting to those things,” he added.

While Beazley has trimmed its exposure, Chubb and AIG — two of its largest rivals in the US market — have maintained or grown their books. The diverging strategies highlight volatility in the nascent sector.

Chubb and AIG declined to comment.

Despite the rise in claims and high-profile attacks on businesses, premiums for cyber insurance have been falling since early 2024, according to broker Marsh, due to rising competition for a finite pool of clients and a broader flood of investment into speciality insurance.

“They’re all fighting for new business,” said Kelly Butler, head of cyber for Marsh. “It’s not an oversaturated market, but there’s a limited pool of buyers.”

Businesses in the US and UK have purchased more cyber coverage in recent years due to the rise in claims. Despite rising demand for policies, margins have been eroded as hedge funds, private equity firms and other investors flooded the insurance market.

Some risk managers also doubt that cyber policies will cover enough of the costs of an attack, after exclusions came under criticism from brokers and clients.

In response, Lloyd’s of London, the insurance marketplace, has pointed to the need to limit liability for potentially sweeping claims stemming from cyber risks, in order to offer any cover against the peril.

While cyber insurance prices had fallen 6 per cent to 7 per cent for each of the past four quarters, Butler said the price slide was now slowing.

Chief executive Adrian Cox told analysts on a call that Beazley was willing to continue to shrink its revenue from cyber in the US, where he said the business line had become “unprofitable”, to protect margins.

He warned that cyber insurance prices could experience “extreme swings in pricing” if others continued to cut their rates.

Beazley shares have since pared their losses, leaving them about 2 per cent lower since the start of the year and valuing the insurer at just over £4.8bn. The stock has gained 120 per cent since 2020, however.

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Infrastructure investors including BlackRock, Brookfield and Apollo are courting the leading oil and gas companies, sensing an opportunity as the sector grapples with lower prices and a lack of enthusiasm from public-market investors. 

At a closed-door meeting ahead of this month’s Adipec energy conference in Abu Dhabi, the heads of ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies, Eni and BP were urged to offload more of their networks of pipelines, storage terminals and other assets to raise cash to be deployed elsewhere in their operations. 

“You guys need to rethink how you think about capital,” one participant told the majors, arguing that equity markets were “not as receptive” to the industry.

“You’re trading at four to seven times earnings multiples. What’s wrong with selling your infrastructure assets for 10 to 12 times?” the person asked. “Take the cheap capital and reinvest it in your core business.”

Saudi Aramco is among those to embrace the trend, completing an $11bn sale and leaseback deal with BlackRock-owned Global Infrastructure Partners in August for the gas network of its Jafurah project. It is weighing further disposals, according to one person familiar with the situation. 

“Why sit on such a vast and lucrative asset base?” said the person. “A lot of the major sovereign wealth funds and private funds were frustrated they did not get a piece of the Jafurah pie and the deals team has been flooded with offers. So they were told to pitch and come formally with ideas.”

Aramco has not determined how much it may sell, according to the person, but such transactions have the potential to raise billions of dollars to support its balance sheet and fund capital spending.

Abu Dhabi moved in 2020 with a $20.7bn pipeline agreement with GIP, Brookfield and the sovereign wealth fund of Singapore, while Oman, Bahrain and Kuwait have all either completed or are considering similar transactions.

Such deals signal a change of approach for state oil companies that have not traditionally sought to open up their businesses to foreign capital.

David Waring, head of energy in Emea at Evercore, said the Aramco deal had “sparked a real wave of interest” from other state oil groups and infrastructure funds seeking a “piece of the action”.

Fossil fuel infrastructure has become more attractive for private-capital groups as expectations grow that the green energy transition will take longer than previously forecast.

Energy groups’ pipelines and other assets, which come with steady revenues backed by long-term contracts, are appealing to funds backed by pools of insurance money that are seeking to deploy large amounts of capital and secure reliable returns.

“They have captive insurance money, which is long-term and cheap,” said the head of the deals team at one oil company. “They sit in the middle and take 2 per cent to 3 per cent.”

The big international oil companies (IOCs), by contrast, have been more cautious, although they have started doing deals as they seek to balance their growth plans against shareholder demands for tight balance sheets and a focus on dividends and share buybacks. 

This year, Shell offloaded its interest in the US Colonial pipeline to Brookfield in a deal that valued the asset at $9bn, while BP sold a stake in the Trans-Anatolian network to Apollo for $1bn.

Waring suggested the influx of money from infrastructure funds into the state-run oil companies would trigger a reaction from the IOCs, which have often relied on more conventional financing.

“Can the IOCs afford to operate within the confines that the equity market imposes, without considering more innovative solutions?” he asked.  

As President Donald Trump approaches the one-year anniversary of his second term in office, the FT’s chief economics commentator Martin Wolf, and Nobel prize-winning economist Paul Krugman sit down to discuss the US economy and the state of American democracy. Are American consumers finally feeling the effect of Trump’s tariffs? Is AI to blame for the frozen labour market? Or is the spectre of a weakening democracy and plutocracy to blame for slumping consumer sentiment? In the first of four weekly episodes, Wolf and Krugman unpick the US and world economy, with Krugman explaining why he’s less pessimistic now than he was earlier this year.

Subscribe and listen to this series of The Economics Show on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Pocket Casts or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Read Martin’s column here.

Subscribe to Paul’s Substack here.

Find Paul’s cultural coda here.

Find Martin’s cultural coda here.

Produced by Mischa Frankl-Duval. Manuela Saragosa is the executive producer. Original music and sound design by Breen Turner.

Read a transcript of this episode on FT.com

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Before she joined Logitech two years ago, chief executive Hanneke Faber submitted herself to a boot camp: 48 hours of computer gaming, coached by her 20-something son in Detroit. “He gave me a test afterwards,” says Faber, “which I passed.”

Gamers are core customers of the Swiss technology hardware group. Its gaming brand, Logitech G, which has its own website, sells G Hub software and high-specification hardware, including specialised headsets, keyboards and a bewildering array of mice — the product the company is still best known for.

Founded in 1981 and headquartered in Lausanne, Switzerland, with offices and innovation centres from San Jose, in Silicon Valley, to Shanghai, Logitech has always aimed to “provide the connection between the human and the compute”, Faber says.

That now means catching the “huge tailwind” of artificial intelligence, as big technology companies start to look for hardware to support their latest products. This year, for example, the group launched an AI-enabled stylus for 3D drawing in physical space using Apple’s Vision Pro headsets. Faber, 56, describes Logitech as “the eyes, the ears and the hands of AI”, just as its mobile keyboards help users connect to tablets and smartphones, and the mouse still links brain and cursor.

“The mouse built this house” is a mantra at Logitech. Faber carries seven in her backpack and extols the recently launched MX Master 4, a programmable mouse that has attracted admiring reviews across the technology community. Click-happy users can tailor its functions with as many as 72 different shortcuts. It is one reason Logitech employs more software than hardware engineers and a source of astonishment for those desk drones who think of the mouse as a dumb “peripheral”.

Faber herself never uses the P-word. She points out that if you are a “software designer who needs to do 1,000 lines of code in three minutes” or “an Excel jockey” or financial analyst, a highly sophisticated mouse is indispensable and can, Logitech claims, make you up to 33 per cent faster.

A former Dutch champion high-diver who studied journalism on a sports scholarship in the US, Faber had no hesitation about applying for the job of chief executive. She had spent her career until then in fast-moving consumer goods and retail, first at Procter & Gamble, then Dutch retailer Ahold. For six years before joining Logitech she held senior positions at multinational Unilever, overseeing food brands such as Hellmann’s and Knorr.

She has a practised answer to the question of what, if anything, those jobs taught her about running a technology company: “Yes, two years ago I was selling mayonnaise. But you need to really understand that user of the mayonnaise and deliver great superior products for her. And that is the same with Logitech,” she says. At Ahold, she was responsible for ecommerce, while Unilever’s nutrition operation was 40 per cent business-to-business. Increasing Logitech’s B2B offering, by selling, for instance, more systems to enhance corporate video calling, is a big part of her strategy.

When she joined in December 2023, the company was coming down from a pandemic-era boom, which had supercharged demand for its video-collaboration tools and gaming accessories. “All of a sudden everyone was video conferencing, was gaming like there was no tomorrow. So it was a bit of a sugar high. The couple of years after Covid were not easy for Logitech and for the industry.” Pre-tax profit, which peaked at $1.15bn in the year to March 2021, was still on the decline. Logitech was also facing pressure from co-founder Daniel Borel, who owns a small stake and wanted to oust the company’s then chair, Wendy Becker. 

In trying to set a new course, Faber put her journalism training to use as she met managers and staff. “Why are you doing that? What are you doing? Where are we doing it? Who’s doing it? All of those questions are important in business as well.” 

Faber cut the number of her direct reports and drew up a working strategy, which, using start-up jargon, she described as a “minimum viable product”. “We did have to move fast because there was no formal strategy, the business had been in decline for about two years. We had an interim CEO [from June to December 2023] so there was some uncertainty.” In her first week, she gathered the leadership team and they drafted a statement on where and how to act, and some financial goals. Faber took this one-pager out to Logitech’s 7,400 staff, to “get the wisdom of the crowd”, before agreeing it with the board and shareholders. She claims the strategy “hasn’t materially changed since then”. 

But the ex-diver’s entry was far from splashless. In an interview for The Verge’s Decoder podcast in July 2024 she chatted freely about the idea of a subscription-based “forever mouse”. The concept had emerged from internal brainstorming about the future of consumer electronics, based on the group’s deeply held commitment to “design for sustainability”, but the idea and her comparison of the device with a Rolex watch attracted ridicule. Logitech had to issue a statement that there was no plan for such a product. A few weeks later, Borel went public with a letter to shareholders criticising succession planning failures and a “toxic culture that [had] become ingrained”. “It must be hard [for founders] because . . . it is their baby,” says Faber. “It truly is like a child . . . When your child leaves the house, you’re not not going to care about your child.”

Becker stepped down this year and Faber has largely repaired relations with Borel. The day after this interview, she was set to meet him to mark the 44th anniversary of the company, and she hopes the co-founders will be part of 50th anniversary celebrations in 2031. “He’s a super-smart guy and he’s got all this experience,” she says, “so we would be crazy not to listen to him.” Contacted separately, Borel says Faber is a “good person” and that the pair now have a “positive and warm relationship”. He continues to push her to maintain the urgency and depth of research spending needed to keep up in a rapidly evolving sector. 

Faber does appear to have steadied Logitech and restarted its growth. The shares, which traded at around SFr75 (about $90) when she joined are now worth nearer SFr90. She repeats several times her strategic goal to “play offence”, despite the volatile global environment. She expects to build on Logitech’s advantages, which include a strong balance sheet, a strong brand, which she is unifying around the Logitech name, and diversified manufacturing. Before the pandemic, Logitech built nearly all of its products in Chinese factories. Donald Trump’s tariffs accelerated plans to diversify its supply chain and, by the end of the year, Faber expects fewer than 10 per cent of products going into the US will come from China. At the same time, Logitech continues to sell into the important and highly competitive Chinese market, where its Swissness provides cover against any animus towards US companies.

As for the device with which the company is most closely associated, Faber is used to reading premature obituaries. Logitech is not dependent only on mice, she points out. “But I wouldn’t write the mouse off either.”