Home |  Products |  Bios |  News |  Contact Us |  FAQ
  Independent Research on Corporate Bonds Since 1994 Preferences|Login


Charter Communications 02-01 11:51 GMT  
(Report with Analyst's Data Sheet) 
Charter Communications (CHTR) just completed a $1.1 billion issue of new senior notes due 2031 at a coupon rate of 7.375%. The use of proceeds...
If You Build It, Will They Come by Kim Noland
Liquid Telecommunications Holdings Ltd 02-01 11:43 GMT  
(Report with Analyst's Data Sheet) 
Liquid Intelligent Technologies (Liquid, LIQTEL) reported its 3Q22/23 results, ended November 30, 2022. Overall, results...
Stalling by Alexandre Dray
Elevance Health, Inc. (formerly Anthem) 02-01 11:40 GMT  
(Report with Analyst's Data Sheet) 
Elevance Health (ELV) has been less aggressive in pursuing deals than UnitedHealth Group, but it remains growth...
Louisiana Blue by Kathleen Shanley, CFA
Millicom International Cellular SA 01-31 06:26 GMT  
(Report with Analyst's Data Sheet) 
According to a report published last week by the Financial Times, which Millicom International Cellular S.A. (TIGO) has...
Private Equity Bid by Cedric Rimaud, CFA
Steel Dynamics 01-31 06:26 GMT  
(Report with Analyst's Data Sheet) 
Steel Dynamics (STLD) reported a double-digit year over year decline in fourth quarter adjusted EBITDA. However, adjusted EBITDA was ahead of the company's...
Optimistic Outlook by Evan Mann, CFA
General Electric 01-31 06:26 GMT  
(Report with Analyst's Data Sheet) 
Much to our chagrin, GE's reported results for 2022 still included the healthcare business, which was spun off on January 4, 2023, changing everything...
Another New Era by Carol Levenson, CFA
Diageo plc 01-31 06:26 GMT  
(Report with Analyst's Data Sheet) 
It may be indicative of how well things are going for Diageo but first half organic net sales growth of 9.4% for the fiscal year that ends in June was viewed as...
Growth Moderates, But Still Robust by Dave Novosel, CFA
Intel 01-27 15:08 GMT
(Comment)
Things continue to get worse at Intel. Following a 20% decline in revenue in the third quarter, revenue...
Earnings by Dave Novosel, CFA
Things continue to get worse at Intel. Following a 20% decline in revenue in the third quarter, revenue plunged 32% in the fourth quarter. Revenue in the Client Computing Group, easily its largest segment, fell 36% while Data Center revenue dopped 33%. As if that was not bad enough management provided Q1 guidance for a decline of roughly 40% at the midpoint. Management attributed the weakness to macroeconomic headwinds, and indicated that it expects those headwinds to prevail through the first half of 2023. Massive inventory reductions from customers, rising interest rates, geopolitical tensions in Europe and the COVID outbreak in China also weighed on revenue. Gross margins plummeted more than 14 percentage points, while operating income was negative for the third consecutive quarter, reflecting the substantially lower revenue. However, the loss escalated to $1.1 billion. It is likely that operating income will be negative again in Q1. INTC expects to achieve savings of $3 billion this year and as much as $10 billion by 2025 but these savings will likely get lost in the gross margin erosion stemming from its high fixed cost structure. Increased advanced node start-up costs and higher underload charges will also constrain margins. INTC finally produced free cash flow after four straight quarters of negative FCF. However, for the full year FCF was negative by more than $15 billion. The company responded by adding $5.5 billion of debt and selling off more than $5 billion of short-term investments on a net basis. Divestitures provided roughly $6.6 billion. Free cash flow will likely be negative in the first half of this year. The increase in debt and the massive decline in EBITDA caused leverage to soar to 3.1x. Over the last 15 years it had never been more than 2x.
Xerox 01-26 16:28 GMT
(Comment)
Xerox posted a 9% increase in revenue for the fourth quarter, and excluding one quarter that was affected...
Earnings by Dave Novosel, CFA
Xerox posted a 9% increase in revenue for the fourth quarter, and excluding one quarter that was affected by the pandemic, it has been many, many years since the company delivered an increase this large. On a constant currency basis revenue was up 14%. Equipment revenue soared 44%, attributable to better availability of product across all categories and regions, particularly for higher margin A3 devices in the Americas region. Supplies/paper revenue rose 10%. The robust Q4 results left revenue up 1% for the full year. Unfortunately, management guidance calls for 2023 revenue to be flat to down low single digits when measured in constant currency. The impressive top line expansion led to a 190 basis point gain in gross margins. EBITDA margins increased 270 bps, aided by improved product and geography mix and lower logistics costs. Management projected better margins in 2023, reflecting price increases and cost actions taken in 2022. Although XRX generated $125 million of free cash flow in Q4, FCF for the full year was negative by $70 million. The company used cash on hand to slash debt by $529 million, repurchase $113 million of its shares, and make acquisitions totaling $93 million. Accordingly, cash declined to $1.1 billion the lowest it has been in a few years. Fortunately, FCF is expected to improve to at least $500 million this year. Core leverage is less than 3x and not a concern at this point.
Comcast Corporation 01-26 15:45 GMT
(Comment)
Comcast has been one of our favorite credits in recent years, but its fourth quarter...
Earnings by Dave Novosel, CFA
Comcast has been one of our favorite credits in recent years, but its fourth quarter performance was relatively poor. Revenue rose only 0.7% and EBITDA margins dropped 150 basis points, marked by a few weak segments and a $182 million charge for severance at the corporate level. Media segment margins plunged by more than 10 percentage points due to costs related to the broadcast of the FIFA World Cup and a $978 million loss at Peacock. Unfortunately, the loss at Peacock is likely to be even greater in 2023. Growth in the Cable Communications unit fell to 1.4% as Phone revenue was down 13% and Video revenue dropped 6% as the company lost 440 thousand video subscribers. High-speed Internet revenue growth slowed to 5.4% as it lost 26 thousand broadband subs, mostly attributable to the impact from Hurricane Ian. Sky revenue declined 13%, mostly due to the currency impact, while margins were down sharply due to higher severance expenses and higher direct network costs. The weakness in these segments was partially offset by robust results in Theme Parks and Studio. CMCSA generated $11 billion of free cash flow in 2022, but used all of it to repurchase $13.3 billion of its shares. $1 billion of debt was added to fund the buybacks. Nevertheless the better EBITDA in 2022 allowed leverage to drop to 2.6x at year-end.
IBM 01-26 14:30 GMT
(Comment)
After producing average revenue growth of more than 7% for the first three quarters of 2022, IBM delivered...
Earnings by Dave Novosel, CFA
After producing average revenue growth of more than 7% for the first three quarters of 2022, IBM delivered flat revenue for the fourth quarter. However, revenue rose 6% on a constant currency basis. Software revenue rose 2.8%, driven by growth in hybrid platform and solutions and transaction processing, with particular strength at Red Hat. Infrastructure revenue was up 1.6%, led by robust results for z Systems. These gains were offset by a decline in Other revenue. Management indicated that it gained overall market share in 2022. Pre-tax margins rose 170 basis points, as gains in Software and Consulting outweighed declines in Infrastructure and Financing. The margin expansion was attributable to a shift in mix, pricing actions, and productivity enhancements. Management provided guidance for mid-single revenue growth in 2023 when measured on a constant currency basis. At current foreign exchange rates currency would add about 1% to growth. Pre-tax margins are expected to increase by about 50 bps. IBM produced $2.6 billion of free cash flow in 2022, most of which was used for its eight acquisitions across software and consulting. FCF was aided by working capital improvements stemming from efficiencies in collections and mainframe cycle dynamics. FCF is expected to increase by about $1.2 billion this year. Core leverage at year-end was 3.1x.
Tempur Sealy 01-11 
An Independent Viewpoint
Rigorous Analysis
Coverage of Key Securities
Every report is one page, and concludes with an actionable investment recommendation.
Jul 12, 2020 | Philadelphia Inquirer
CL on Walgreens third quarter losses
Jun 30, 2020 | Barron's
EM on Chesapeake Energy Declared Bankruptcy. Other Oil-and-Gas Stocks Could be in Danger Too.
Jun 25, 2020 | WSJ Pro
KN on Mohegan Sun: Refi Risk
Jun 22, 2020 | Cincinnati Business Courier
CL on Kroger analyst explains why shares fell after big earnings
Jun 16, 2020 | WSJ Pro
EM on Lear Hits Speed Bump from Covid-19
Copyright © 2023. Gimme Credit LLC. All Rights Reserved.