In today’s briefing:
- Zeekr IPO Trading – Not as Cheap as It Looks but Float Is Tiny
- PayPal Holdings: Continued Focus On Its Omnichannel Strategy Increasing Innovation & Adoption! – Major Drivers
- Amazon.com Inc.: Prime
- TPL: Watering for the Next Phase
- CXW: 1Q24 Beat Highlights Operating Leverage, Improving Occupancies
- Starbucks Corporation: A Major Disappointment But These 6 Factors That Can Help Them Recover! – Major Drivers
- Mondelez International: A Tale Of Preserving Critical Price Points and Investing in Supply Chain Reliability! – Major Drivers
- Ecolab Inc.: Internal Innovation and Acquisition Potential Driving Ecolab’s Healthcare Business! – Major Drivers
- Rayonier Advanced Materials, Inc. – Solid Start to the Year and Progress on Asset Transformation
- Stellantis N.V: Will Their Ambitious Electrification Strategy Yield Dividends?
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Zeekr IPO Trading – Not as Cheap as It Looks but Float Is Tiny
- ZEEKR (ZK US), a premium EV brand by Geely, raised around US$440m in its US listing, after the deal was upsized and priced at the top.
- Zeekr was formed in Mar 2021 as a JV between Geely and its founder. Its first model was launched in Apr 21 with deliveries starting in Oct 21.
- We have looked at the company’s past performance and provided our thoughts on valuations in our earlier notes. In this note, we talk about the trading dynamics.
PayPal Holdings: Continued Focus On Its Omnichannel Strategy Increasing Innovation & Adoption! – Major Drivers
- PayPal Holdings Inc.’s Q1 2024 earnings showcased a solid start for the year with substantial improvements across various sectors of the business, tempered by an understanding of the need for continued retooling and operational changes.
- The company leadership is operating cohesively and the new strategies in place are evidently beginning to make a difference.
- PayPal has maintained steady progress with their three customer groups; large enterprises, small businesses, and consumers, including their subsidiary, Venmo.
Amazon.com Inc.: Prime
- Amazon.com reported robust first quarter financial results in 2024, with revenue of $143.3 billion, a 13% increase year-over-year.
- However, the result excludes the impact of foreign exchange rates, which caused an unfavorable impact that reduced revenue by roughly $700 million.
- The company delivered higher than expected operating income of $15.3 billion, which is a 221% increase from last year, driven primarily by efficiency improvements and better customer experiences.
TPL: Watering for the Next Phase
- TPL reported first quarter results with a higher than expected revenue figure from water sales to go along with the Company’s disclosure of a new desalination technology
- TPL’s quarterly results were better than we had projected due to the performance in water sales. Unlike second quarter 2023 results, TPL’s management referred to a pipeline of sales
- TPL used the first quarter results to disclose a new method of desalination of produced water
CXW: 1Q24 Beat Highlights Operating Leverage, Improving Occupancies
- Management has indicated that the pipeline for new leases, renewals is robust as ICE & multiple government entities seek capacity.
- Company is engaged in multiple discussions.
- In addition, the recent debt issuance extended maturities & CXW was able to maintain the cost of capital despite the uncertain rate, economic outlook.
Starbucks Corporation: A Major Disappointment But These 6 Factors That Can Help Them Recover! – Major Drivers
- Starbucks’ second quarter fiscal year 2024 results reflect the challenges and opportunities the company faces in a changing marketplace.
- While global comparable store sales declined by 4% year-over-year and the company’s total revenue dipped by 1% to $8.6 billion, a decline in foot traffic in North America and a hefty decline of 11% in China being a few of the contributing factors.
- The company was also affected by severe weather conditions, causing a nearly 3% impact on both US and total company comp during the quarter.
Mondelez International: A Tale Of Preserving Critical Price Points and Investing in Supply Chain Reliability! – Major Drivers
- Mondelez International had robust Q1 2024 with solid top line results, strong earnings, and free cash flow generation.
- The performance was buoyed by momentum in emerging markets where consumer confidence is high and categories are resilient.
- The company faced challenges such as disruption with European clients and boycott of Western products in the Middle East and Southeast Asia.
Ecolab Inc.: Internal Innovation and Acquisition Potential Driving Ecolab’s Healthcare Business! – Major Drivers
- Ecolab Inc.’s first-quarter 2024 earnings showcased strong progress with adjusted earnings per share increasing by 52%.
- This impressive outcome can be attributed to a 5% growth in organic sales and the expansion of organic operating income margin by 400 basis points.
- The company is also expected to maintain its long-term earnings growth of 12% to 15%.The CEO, Christophe Beck, expressed satisfaction with the level of dedication and the results obtained from Ecolab’s workforce.
Rayonier Advanced Materials, Inc. – Solid Start to the Year and Progress on Asset Transformation
- 1Q24 performance ahead of expectations. RYAM reported 1Q24 results that included EPS of ($0.02) versus consensus of ($0.10) and our estimate of ($0.19).
- While sales of $388 million fell short of our estimate of $402 million and consensus of $430 million, tight cost controls, lower raw material and transportation costs, and improved operating efficiencies drove EBITDA of $52 million versus our estimate of $39 million and consensus of $49 million.
EBITDA guidance maintained, FCF guidance increased. With market fundamentals stabilizing and most of customer inventory work-downs winding down, management reiterated its EBITDA guidance of $180-200 million and raised its FCF guidance for the year from $20- 40 million to $80-100 million on a higher working capital benefit and $39 million in cash to be realized from the sale of softwood duty refund rights to OCP Lumber LLC.
Stellantis N.V: Will Their Ambitious Electrification Strategy Yield Dividends?
- Stellantis has reported strong results in its Full Year 2023 Results, demonstrating the company’s high resilience even amid challenges.
- Stellantis’ CEO, Carlos Tavares reflected on the record net revenues, net profit, and free cash flow for the year, showing an increase of 6%, 11%, and 19% respectively.
- The CEO noted that Stellantis’ strategy is all about profitable growth.