(Bloomberg) — PepsiCo Inc. Chief Executive Officer Ramon Laguarta is used to getting asked about the impact of blockbuster weight-loss drugs on his food company’s business, but the questions aren’t usually coming from a 13-year-old.
“So what do you think about the launch of GLP-1 oral medications coming to market next year?” asked Milena Gajrawala, the teenage daughter of Jefferies analyst Kaumil Gajrawala.
Milena had accompanied her father to the office on Thursday as part of Jefferies’ “Take A Child to Work Day.” She joined the PepsiCo earnings call because the financial firm’s activities hadn’t kicked off yet. She came up with the question herself, and the company didn’t know it was coming, Gajrawala said.
“Awesome,” was the Pepsi CEO’s initial response. Then he answered much like he has before to similar questions posed by Wall Street analysts. The experimental GLP-1 pills are considered the next frontier of a burgeoning medicine market and threaten to dent demand for Pepsi’s salty chips and sugary sodas.
“Obviously, we’ve been transforming the portfolio and we’ll continue to give the consumer offerings that help them in any sort of dietary preferences that they have,” Laguarta said, referring to new “fiber and hydration solutions” and Pepsi’s attempts to to “capture more incremental value.”
But Laguarta didn’t specifically address the pills, which if approved will make weight-loss drugs even easier to take than current injections.
“Families are important to us at PepsiCo,” Laguarta later added in a statement. He said that the company was happy to have Milena join the call “and thought she asked a great question.” The company declined to comment about whether Laguarta dodged the question.
Laguarta wasn’t the only CEO to get grilled by the Gajrawala clan that day. That same morning, Keurig Dr Pepper Inc. CEO Tim Cofer faced a question from Milena’s brother Kamran, also 13, about Dr Pepper’s new blackberry soda.
“I think it’s my first-ever question from a young person,” Cofer said. “I appreciate it, Kamran. And I hope Kamran’s a big fan of Dr Pepper Blackberry.”
After saying the new product ranked among the company’s best recent innovations, Cofer, like Laguarta, then launched into industry-speak, mentioning the product’s “full-funnel marketing activation.”
Kamran wasn’t given the chance to ask a follow-up question, so he couldn’t ask Cofer what a full-funnel marketing activation was.
“We were delighted to get a question from a fan and budding analyst yesterday,” said Jane Gelfand, senior vice president of finance Keurig Dr Pepper. Kamran “did a great job and brought smiles to our whole team.”
The kids’ questions stemmed from Gajrawala’s desire for his children to “get a feel for the job,” he said. The analyst has long worked in finance, and joined Jefferies in 2023. This was his first time having his kids join an earnings call, he said.
The family brainstormed potential questions before the calls. Later, the two kids got a tour of the Jefferies trading floor and met with senior Jefferies executives.
“Take A Child to Work Day” dates back to the early 1990s and is usually held in late April. The program is overseen by the nonprofit Junior Achievement, though each participating workplace implements activities in its own way. Junior Achievement credits it with introducing “millions of kids to career possibilities.”
“The idea of this program is to give young people an opportunity to see the world of work up close, something that many don’t get the chance to do until they have their first job,” said Ed Grocholski, Junior Achievement USA’s chief marketing officer. “The child of the analyst will have an indelible memory of that experience, which could ultimately influence career goals.”
On Thursday’s call, Milena even beat veteran analyst Robert Moskow of Cowen Inc. to the punch. He also was planning to ask Laguarta about GLP-1 pills.
“Kaumil’s daughter took my first question,” he said on the Thursday call. “But fortunately I have a backup.”
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