PriceSmart Inc

Jefferies warned that six consumer stocks could be disrupted by a Super El Niño this year and into 2027, part of a larger multi-sector list of names the firm identified as at risk. Current forecasts suggest the 2026-27 El Niño may be the strongest in modern history, and the firm noted that, unlike most climate risks, El Niño is highly trackable months in advance, giving investors an opportunity to identify economic consequences before they fully materialize. Analyst Scott Marks said Hershey carries concentrated cocoa exposure through its core U.S. chocolate portfolio and has built its 2027 margin recovery plan around expected cocoa deflation, warning that a Super El Niño driving a hotter, drier West African 2026/27 crop would undercut the central pillar of that recovery story. J.M. Smucker is exposed through its coffee portfolio, with sourcing potentially impacted for Brazilian arabica and Vietnamese and Indonesian robusta, while Mondelez International faces El Niño exposure through cocoa, with roughly 60% of supply in Côte d'Ivoire and Ghana, where strong events historically turn hotter and drier heading into the November-January harvest. Analyst Pedro Baptista noted PriceSmart derives approximately 11% of sales from Colombia and also operates across Central America, and analyst Anne Ling said Yum China could see extreme rainfall, flooding and adverse weather temporarily reduce dine-in traffic and disrupt logistics and delivery efficiency, while analyst Alex Wright highlighted that a sharp rise in sweetener costs could pressure margins at Coca-Cola FEMSA if cost increases outpace pricing actions.