Tag: US Market
besting $1.0 billion estimate, as sales in the long-troubled mass beauty segment rebounded from the pandemic faster than expected. The strength was driven by Cover Girl, the cornerstone of the segment, which experienced its first full quarter of market share gains in five years, on the heels of the brand’s relaunch, supported by a new lineup of clean ingredient products and a robust marketing campaign.
While Coty’s net debt/adjusted EBITDA remains quite high at 5.3 times at the end of June, the firm closed its fiscal year with $2.3 billion in liquidity, which should be sufficient to meet its needs over the next year ($240 million in capital expenditures, $100 million in preferred dividends, and $25 million in debt maturities).
CEO Sue Nabi laid out her turnaround strategy last year, which calls for Coty to increase its exposure to high growth markets where it had been historically underexposed. But the firm has been able to improve quickly the trends, in the face of a global pandemic, nonetheless.
Company’s Future Outlook
For fiscal 2021, Coty’s adjusted operating margin was 8.8% compared with 6.9% in fiscal 2019, given positive mix shifts to more profitable channels (e-commerce and prestige) and categories (skincare), lower obsolescence charges, temporarily reduced marketing expenses, and over $330 million in permanent fixed cost reductions. Coty’s fiscal 2022 guidance also exceeds forecast, calling for low-teen organic sales growth, and $900 million in adjusted EBITDA, compared with estimates of 9% growth and $800 million in adjusted EBITDA. Although material increase in Coty’s intrinsic value is anticipated, its fair value is still under review, in order to revisit the long term forecast and the implications of its planned IPO of a stake in its Brazilian beauty business.
Company Profile
Coty is a global beauty company that sells fragrances (56% of fiscal 2020 revenue), color cosmetics (31%), and skin/body care (13%). The firm licenses brands such as Calvin Klein, Hugo Boss, Gucci, Burberry, and Davidoff for its prestige portfolio. Coty’s most popular color cosmetic brands are Cover Girl, Max Factor, Rimmel, Sally Hansen, and Kylie. Coty also holds a 40% stake in a salon and retail hair care business, including brands Wella, Clairol, OPI, and ghd. Francois Coty founded the firm in 1904 and it remained private until its 2013 IPO. It had focused on prestige fragrances and nail salon brands until the 2016 acquisition of Procter & Gamble’s beauty care business. This nearly doubled the firm’s revenue base, and launched it into mass channel cosmetics and professional hair care.
(Source: Morningstar)
General Advice Warning
Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.
James Gorman and Morgan Stanley’s management team have deftly positioned the firm to key financial sector trends through acquisitions. They inked a transformative deal with the acquisition of Citigroup’s Smith Barney that increased Morgan Stanley’s proportion of stable, balance-sheet-light earnings after the enactment of higher regulatory capital requirements.
Recent acquisitions of E-Trade and Eaton Vance further extend Morgan Stanley’s capabilities and deepen its competitive advantages. E-Trade is a technology firm that offers a leading self-directed brokerage, digital bank, and workplace services business. Eaton Vance is an asset manager that will benefit from Morgan Stanley’s international relationships, while Morgan Stanley’s investment management business can leverage Eaton Vance’s financial intermediary distribution channel and capabilities in environment, social, and governance investing and mass customization of financial products.
Morgan Stanley’s thoughtful acquisitions provide it the scale and scope to effectively compete with the largest financial sector players that are increasingly moving beyond their traditional industry silos. Given synergies and exposure to industry tailwinds, we expect Morgan Stanley’s returns on tangible common equity will increase over time and support the company’s valuation.
Company’s Future outlook
It is estimated that Morgan Stanley’s acquisitions and strategy have led to the increase in its valuation, management’s path to increasing the firm’s valuation to over 2 times tangible book value from 0.5 times in just a decade.” Morgan Stanley plans upgrading capital allocation rating to Exemplary from Standard and increasing fair value estimate to $85 from $70.
Company Profile
Morgan Stanley is a global investment bank whose history, through its legacy firms, can be traced back to 1924. The company has institutional securities, wealth management, and investment management segments. The company had about $4 trillion of client assets as well as nearly 70,000 employees at the end of 2020. Approximately 40% of the company’s net revenue is from its institutional securities business, with the remainder coming from wealth and investment management. The company derives about 30% of its total revenue outside the Americas.
(Source: Morningstar)
General Advice Warning
Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.
a boom in the commercial real estate services industry since the nadir of the real estate-driven global financial crisis of 2007. As the third-largest player in the space by market cap, Cushman & Wakefield has benefited disproportionately from various tailwinds that have underpinned an impressive run of growth. Key to this success has been the company’s industry-leading brand reputation and a platform that melds complementary business lines in areas such as property sales, leasing, project management, and outsourcing to serve its corporate and institutional clients.
Although Cushman & Wakefield nominally reports its segments on a regional basis, it also discloses the amount of revenue coming from each business line. Among these, the property, facilities, and project management business is the largest and also the most stable, providing contractual revenue from corporate customers. This business line, which contributes around 54% of companywide revenue, is where Cushman & Wakefield provides many of the services needed by corporations that occupy real estate.
Finally, the company’s valuation and other business line include several services for corporate and institutional clients, which include appraisals that are used for various purposes. The leasing business line is Cushman & Wakefield’s second largest, contributing around 23% of companywide revenue. In this business line, the company’s brokers work with owners and occupiers of commercial real estate during the leasing process, primarily by executing lease agreements. Similarly, the capital markets business line, which contributes around 14% of companywide revenue, is where brokers facilitate the sale and purchase of commercial real estate property.
Financial Strength
Cushman & Wakefield has somewhat concerning financial health. Commercial real estate is highly cyclical and is subject to significant volatility during downturns, meriting a more cautious approach. Cushman & Wakefield’s higher level of leverage is the result of an aggressive acquisition strategy that has helped cement the firm’s position as a global provider able to compete effectively with CBRE and JLL. In response to the corona virus crisis, Cushman & Wakefield announced it would issue $650 million in senior notes, bringing further attention to its borderline precarious financial situation.
Bull Says
- As one of the largest of only a few truly international one-stop shops, Cushman & Wakefield is poised to continue taking share from competitors in a growing industry that increasingly rewards scale.
- The trend of corporate outsourcing represents a significant opportunity and area of growth for Cushman & Wakefield.
- Cushman & Wakefield is emerging as an authority on the topic of workplace protocols amid the corona virus era of social distancing, which will allow it to win new outsourcing contracts with major clients.
Company Profile
Cushman & Wakefield is the third largest commercial real estate services firm in the world with a global headquarters in Chicago. The firm provides various real estate-related services to owners, occupiers and investors. These include brokerage services for leasing and capital markets sales, as well as advisory services such valuation, project management, and facilities management.
(Source: Morningstar)
General Advice Warning
Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.
. Its domestic operations are more concentrated in mortgages and auto lending. The international exposure gives the bank the potential for higher growth and return opportunities compared with peers, but it also exposes the bank to more risks.
The bank is in the middle of rationalizing its many back-end systems and improving efficiency bankwide.The bank is continuously focusing in digitalisation and has been spending the most on its technology and communication expenses. These efforts will ultimately pay off in the form of improved operating efficiency, customer engagement, and internal sales coordination. This leads us to believe that returns on tangible equity near 15% are sustainable over the longer term for the bank.
International Still a Drag, but Other Segments Mostly Positive for Scotiabank in Fiscal Q3
Bank of Nova Scotia reported decent fiscal third-quarter earnings. Adjusted earnings per share were CAD 2.01, representing solid year-over-year growth which is higher than last quarter’s EPS of CAD 1.90. Provisioning continues to be a major driver of improved earnings. Credit costs remained solid and provisioning was low during the quarter while the bank is still holding excess reserves for future credit losses
Revenue growth continued to be lackluster for Scotiabank, up only 1% year over year as the bank’s international segment remains under some pressure and fee growth for the global markets segment faced tough year over year comps. It is expected that the international fees to continue to recover as the economic picture is improving in essentially all of Scotia bank’s Pacific .
Financial Strength:
Bank of Nova Scotia holds strong overall financial health with net revenue of CAD 30729 million and net income of CAD 6582 million in the year 2020. Nova Scotia’s reported common equity Tier 1 ratio of 12.2% as of July 2021 which remains satisfactory. This is above the 11.5% goal that management has targeted and leaves the bank well positioned to absorb the upcoming rise in credit costs. With dividend payout ratios at manageable levels between 40% and 50%, we expect its capital generation will continue to provide growth in its capital position, leaving room for future bolt-on acquisitions, increased capital return to shareholders, or both
Bulls Say
- The Canadian market remains attractive; the government has placed barriers to entry that protect high returns.
- The international segment’s exposure to higher growth emerging markets in Latin America will offset Scotia bank’s slower growth in its home markets and offer a runway for higher growth and returns compared with peers.
- Scotiabank has consistently been one of the most efficient bankwide operators, and its higher relative level of spending on technology should allow this to continue.
Company Profile
Bank of Nova Scotia is a global financial services provider. The bank has five business segments: Canadian banking, international banking, global wealth management, global banking and markets, and other. It offers a range of advice, products, and services, including personal and commercial banking, wealth management and private banking, corporate and investment banking, and capital markets. The bank’s international operations span numerous countries and are more concentrated in Central and South America
(Source: Morningstar)
General Advice Warning
Any advice/ information provided is general in nature only and does not take into account the personal financial situation, objectives or needs of any particular person.
