You can use wp_get_post_terms() and in_array() to check if “investments” is in the term array or not:
<?php $catquery = new WP_Query(array(
'orderby' => 'date',
'order' => 'DESC'
)); ?>
<?php while($catquery->have_posts()) : $catquery->the_post(); ?>
<?php $backgroundImg = wp_get_attachment_image_src( get_post_thumbnail_id($post->ID), 'large' );?>
<?php
// Gather all the post terms for the post.
$post_term_objects = wp_get_post_terms( $post->ID, 'category' );
// Empty array to hold our terms
$post_terms = [];
// loop through the objects and put the slug (this could be name as well, but slug is easier to manage)
foreach ( $post_term_objects as $post_term_object ) {
// put the terms into the array.
$post_terms[] = $post_term_object->slug;
}
?>
<div class="row episodes-feed-wrap">
<!-- CHECK IF investments is NOT in the array -->
<?php if ( ! in_array( 'investments', $post_terms, false ) ) : ?>
<div class="col-4 episodes-feed-thumb">
<a href="https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/361272/<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark">
<?php echo get_the_post_thumbnail( $post->ID, 'large' ); ?>
</a>
</div>
<div class="col-8 featured-article">
<div class="container" style="padding:0;">
<h4 class="episodes-feed-cat">
<?php $categories = get_the_category();
if ( ! empty( $categories ) ) {
echo '<a href="' . esc_url( get_category_link( $categories[0]->term_id ) ) . '">' . esc_html( $categories[0]->name ) . '</a>';
}?>
</h4>
<a href="https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/361272/<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark">
<h2 class="episodes-title">
<?php the_title(); ?>
</h2>
</a>
<div class="episodes-excerpt">
<a href="https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/361272/<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark">
<?php echo excerpt(25); ?>
</a>
</div>
<div class="episodes-feed-info-wrap">
<div class="episodes-feed-author">
<a href="https://wordpress.stackexchange.com/questions/361272/<?php the_permalink() ?>" rel="bookmark">
<?php the_author(); ?> • <?php echo meks_time_ago(); /* post date in time ago format */ ?>
</a>
</div>
</div>
</div><!-- end container -->
</div>
<?php else : ?>
<!-- PUT YOUR MARK UP FOR INVESTMENTS HERE -->
<?php endif; ?>
</div>
<?php endwhile;
wp_reset_postdata();
?>
I commented everything so you should be able to follow what is happening.