GDP = 6.9%
Wolfspeed benefiting from strong market trends, says Piper Sandler 04:53 WOLF Piper Sandler analyst Harsh Kumar reiterates an Overweight rating on Wolfspeed with a $160 price target saying the company reported strong December quarter earnings and provided March quarter guidance ahead of consensus. Wolfspeed appears to be benefiting from strong market trends, as silicon carbide enables high power industrial and automotive solutions, Kumar tells investors in a research note. In addition, Wolfspeed's opportunity pipeline "swelled" to over $20B and in the December quarter, the company added $1.6B of design-ins, notes the analyst. Kumar is "excited about the growing opportunities ahead for the company."
Cathie Wood's ARK Investment bought 1.25M shares of Ginkgo Bioworks today 20:40 DNA
Packaging Corp. announces new $1B share repurchase plan 17:46 PKG Commenting on reported results, Mark Kowlzan, Chairman and CEO, said,
"Demand in our Packaging segment remained very strong, with our corrugated products plants delivering record fourth quarter total shipments and an all-time record shipments per day that exceeded last year's extremely strong fourth quarter. We utilized the capability of both machines at our Jackson, AL mill to produce containerboard for the entire quarter yet inventories, including the additional containerboard inventory from our December acquisition of Advance Packaging, moved lower from the end of September. Throughout the quarter, implementation of our previously announced containerboard and corrugated products price increases was executed extremely well. Although unprecedented inflation in most all of our operating cost categories and freight cost continues, we were able to offset some of this impact by taking advantage of the strong market conditions with great operational execution in both our mills and corrugated products plants as well as from favorable weather patterns helping with our wood and energy costs. Across the company, the commitment and dedication exhibited by our employees to meet our customers' needs while overcoming the difficulties and challenges brought on by on-going labor shortages, now exacerbated by the Omicron variant, supply chain bottlenecks, and logistics constraints has been outstanding. Finally, during the quarter we utilized the remaining $193 million of share repurchase authorization to buyback over 1.4 million shares of our stock at an average price of $133.79 per share.
Our board of directors recently approved a new $1 billion repurchase authorization."
Pershing Square acquires over 3.1M Netflix shares 17:15 NFLX Pershing Square's Bill Ackman said the firm purchased more than 3.1M shares of Netflix, making Pershing a top-20 holder in the company. "I have long admired Reed Hastings and the remarkable company he and his team have built," Ackman said. "We are delighted that the market has presented us with this opportunity." Reference Link
Methanex reports Q4 adjusted EPS $2.43, consensus $1.23 17:08 MEOH Reports Q4 revenue $1.25B, consensus $982.64M. CEO John Floren said, "I am extremely proud of the record financial results we delivered in 2021 amid the continuing impact of COVID-19. In 2021, we took actions to strengthen our asset portfolio by restarting the construction of G3, restarting Chile IV and completing the G2 debottlenecking project. In the fourth quarter, the strong fundamentals of the methanol industry, coupled with our high levels of production and strong and consistent execution of our strategy enabled us to generate strong free cash flow and deliver one of the strongest operational and financial performances in our history. Our capital allocation priorities remain the same. We are well positioned to maintain our business, pursue attractive growth opportunities and continue our long track record of returning excess cash to shareholders through a sustainable dividend and share buybacks."
