The World's Largest Meatpacker Jumps On First Day Of NYSE Trading
In the first hours since the world's largest meatpacker began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday under the ticker JBS, the stock had a slow start before ending the day up nearly 5%.
The addition of American investors has been expected to help the Brazilian conglomerate with $77 billion in 2024 revenue from processing and selling beef, pork, chicken and lamb to more than 100 countries. During the first day of trading, shares rose around 3% before briefly falling past where the stock opened at $13.65 per share at around 2:30 p.m eastern. As of the close of markets, the stock was back up and hit a high $14.29, or around 5% up. The market capitalization of JBS was more than $31 billion. And the billionaire sons of the founder, who guided the expansion of JBS beyond Brazil—and went to jail seven years ago after its American acquisition spree got ensnared in a massive corruption scandal involving 1,800 politicians in in their homeland—are now richer for it.
As JBS stock rose, the net worths of Joesley and Wesley Batista increased an estimated $200 million each. The brothers, who are the top shareholders in the company and serve as board directors, are now worth $4.8 billion each. Together, through family holding companies, they own nearly 50% of JBS.
Billionaires Wesley (left) and Joesley Batista are the top shareholders of JBS, the world's largest meatpacker, which began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on Friday.
Joesley and Wesley Batista, 53 and 52 respectively, were personally charged with foreign corruption in the U.S. as well as insider trading allegations in Brazil (related to the timing of the news of their bribery scheme) that saw them briefly jailed in Brazil for about six months from 2017 to 2018.
In all, the Batistas and one of their holding companies agreed to more than three dozen incidents of bribery in Brazil, according to their 2017 cooperation agreements with the Brazilian government. And the U.S. Department of Justice and Securities and Exchange Commission found evidence of some $150 million in kickback when the Batistas and their holding company, J&F Investimentos, pled guilty to U.S. foreign corruption charges in 2020. J&F paid a $128 million criminal fine as part of a settlement with the Department of Justice. J&F also paid $27 million over foreign corruption charges with the SEC. At the same time, the Batista brothers, who are Brazilian citizens, settled a civil penalty with the SEC and paid $550,000 each.
Until 2025, there had been a bipartisan effort to stop the U.S. listing on the NYSE. Last year, 15 senators—including Republicans Josh Hawley of Missouri and John Barrasso of Wyoming as well as Democrats Cory Booker of New Jersey, Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts—denounced a potential IPO. Years prior, former Florida Senator Marco Rubio, now Secretary of State, was one of JBS' loudest critics and twice requested a broad investigation by the Treasury Department into the Batistas and their assets.
The long-delayed SEC approval for JBS' dual-listing came just two days after the Trump Administration's new SEC chairman was sworn into office.
The SEC approval also came two days after it was revealed in a public filing with the federal election commission that the largest donor to the Trump Inaugural Committee was the JBS subsidiary, chicken processor Pilgrim's Pride. The $5 million donation to Trump's Inauguration was five times larger than the checks given by Amazon, Meta, Uber, Nvidia and Microsoft, which each gave $1 million. A JBS spokesperson has denied any link in the timing of the donation. The Trump Administration did not return request for comment.
Allowing JBS to trade in the U.S. is likely bad news for America's homegrown—and largest overall—meatpacker, Tyson. With a market capitalization of just under $20 billion, Tyson is slightly bigger than JBS in beef and chicken, but its stock price has been struggling, down 8%, in the past three months.
Tyson has historically traded at around double the multiple of JBS, but analysts expect the addition of JBS to an American stock exchange to change that, which means JBS will have more buying power, and the competition is on.
'Food is a national security issue,' says Carlos Laboy, the lead analyst on JBS at HSBC. 'It benefits the United States to have the largest protein company in the world not only operated in the U.S. but listed in the U.S. and with the oversight of U.S. regulators. The alternative scenarios are not favorable to the U.S.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Should You Investigate Galliford Try Holdings plc (LON:GFRD) At UK£4.14?
Galliford Try Holdings plc (LON:GFRD), is not the largest company out there, but it received a lot of attention from a substantial price increase on the LSE over the last few months. The recent jump in the share price has meant that the company is trading at close to its 52-week high. As a stock with high coverage by analysts, you could assume any recent changes in the company's outlook is already priced into the stock. However, could the stock still be trading at a relatively cheap price? Let's take a look at Galliford Try Holdings's outlook and value based on the most recent financial data to see if the opportunity still exists. This technology could replace computers: discover the 20 stocks are working to make quantum computing a reality. Good news, investors! Galliford Try Holdings is still a bargain right now. Our valuation model shows that the intrinsic value for the stock is £6.68, but it is currently trading at UK£4.14 on the share market, meaning that there is still an opportunity to buy now. Galliford Try Holdings's share price also seems relatively stable compared to the rest of the market, as indicated by its low beta. If you believe the share price should eventually reach its true value, a low beta could suggest it is unlikely to rapidly do so anytime soon, and once it's there, it may be hard to fall back down into an attractive buying range. View our latest analysis for Galliford Try Holdings Future outlook is an important aspect when you're looking at buying a stock, especially if you are an investor looking for growth in your portfolio. Although value investors would argue that it's the intrinsic value relative to the price that matter the most, a more compelling investment thesis would be high growth potential at a cheap price. Though in the case of Galliford Try Holdings, it is expected to deliver a negative earnings growth of -19%, which doesn't help build up its investment thesis. It appears that risk of future uncertainty is high, at least in the near term. Are you a shareholder? Although GFRD is currently undervalued, the adverse prospect of negative growth brings about some degree of risk. We recommend you think about whether you want to increase your portfolio exposure to GFRD, or whether diversifying into another stock may be a better move for your total risk and return. Are you a potential investor? If you've been keeping tabs on GFRD for some time, but hesitant on making the leap, we recommend you research further into the stock. Given its current undervaluation, now is a great time to make a decision. But keep in mind the risks that come with negative growth prospects in the future. With this in mind, we wouldn't consider investing in a stock unless we had a thorough understanding of the risks. To that end, you should learn about the 2 warning signs we've spotted with Galliford Try Holdings (including 1 which is significant). If you are no longer interested in Galliford Try Holdings, you can use our free platform to see our list of over 50 other stocks with a high growth potential. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
It Might Not Be A Great Idea To Buy Vp plc (LON:VP.) For Its Next Dividend
Vp plc (LON:VP.) stock is about to trade ex-dividend in four days. Typically, the ex-dividend date is two business days before the record date, which is the date on which a company determines the shareholders eligible to receive a dividend. The ex-dividend date is important as the process of settlement involves at least two full business days. So if you miss that date, you would not show up on the company's books on the record date. In other words, investors can purchase Vp's shares before the 19th of June in order to be eligible for the dividend, which will be paid on the 6th of August. The company's next dividend payment will be UK£0.28 per share, on the back of last year when the company paid a total of UK£0.40 to shareholders. Based on the last year's worth of payments, Vp has a trailing yield of 6.4% on the current stock price of UK£6.20. If you buy this business for its dividend, you should have an idea of whether Vp's dividend is reliable and sustainable. We need to see whether the dividend is covered by earnings and if it's growing. We've found 21 US stocks that are forecast to pay a dividend yield of over 6% next year. See the full list for free. Dividends are typically paid from company earnings. If a company pays more in dividends than it earned in profit, then the dividend could be unsustainable. Last year, Vp paid out 108% of its income as dividends, which is above a level that we're comfortable with, especially if the company needs to reinvest in its business. That said, even highly profitable companies sometimes might not generate enough cash to pay the dividend, which is why we should always check if the dividend is covered by cash flow. It paid out an unsustainably high 218% of its free cash flow as dividends over the past 12 months, which is worrying. It's pretty hard to pay out more than you earn, so we wonder how Vp intends to continue funding this dividend, or if it could be forced to cut the payment. As Vp's dividend was not well covered by either earnings or cash flow, we would be concerned that this dividend could be at risk over the long term. See our latest analysis for Vp Click here to see the company's payout ratio, plus analyst estimates of its future dividends. When earnings decline, dividend companies become much harder to analyse and own safely. If earnings decline and the company is forced to cut its dividend, investors could watch the value of their investment go up in smoke. That's why it's not ideal to see Vp's earnings per share have been shrinking at 4.8% a year over the previous five years. Many investors will assess a company's dividend performance by evaluating how much the dividend payments have changed over time. Since the start of our data, 10 years ago, Vp has lifted its dividend by approximately 11% a year on average. The only way to pay higher dividends when earnings are shrinking is either to pay out a larger percentage of profits, spend cash from the balance sheet, or borrow the money. Vp is already paying out 108% of its profits, and with shrinking earnings we think it's unlikely that this dividend will grow quickly in the future. Is Vp an attractive dividend stock, or better left on the shelf? It's looking like an unattractive opportunity, with its earnings per share declining, while, paying out an uncomfortably high percentage of both its profits (108%) and cash flow as dividends. This is a clearly suboptimal combination that usually suggests the dividend is at risk of being cut. If not now, then perhaps in the future. Bottom line: Vp has some unfortunate characteristics that we think could lead to sub-optimal outcomes for dividend investors. Having said that, if you're looking at this stock without much concern for the dividend, you should still be familiar of the risks involved with Vp. Be aware that Vp is showing 3 warning signs in our investment analysis, and 2 of those make us uncomfortable... Generally, we wouldn't recommend just buying the first dividend stock you see. Here's a curated list of interesting stocks that are strong dividend payers. Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team (at) article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.
New York Times
2 hours ago
- New York Times
I Want to Use a Co-op as a Pied-à-Terre. Do I Need to Tell the Board?
Q: I don't live in New York, but I'm interested in buying a one-bedroom co-op in Manhattan so I can visit my son in Brooklyn or use for vacations. I'd also like to let relatives or very close friends stay there occasionally when I'm not around. I know that some co-ops allow, while others do not. But how do I find out without leading the co-op board to falsely believe that I would turn it into a short-term rental? When I ask listing agent if visitors can stay in the unit when the owner isn't there, they quickly tell me that it's better not to ask. How can I find out without tanking my application? A: There is a way to get an answer without alerting a co-op board to your intentions, but you need to be cautious and do your due diligence. Make sure that your desire to use the apartment as an occasional home is permitted in the co-op's proprietary lease and the house rules. You can ask your broker to get the governing documents from the seller's broker. Once you establish that it is allowed, look to see what the rules are about guests. Who is allowed to stay? And can they be there when you are not? 'If you see pieds-à-terre are allowed, and there aren't any restrictions, don't ask the board if there are restrictions,' said Lisa Chajet, a broker at Coldwell Banker Warburg, who specializes in co-ops. 'It's nothing a buyer brings up to a board under any circumstances.' But this might be tough to find, said Andrew B. Freedland, who practices condominium and cooperative law at Herrick. The law firm represents many co-ops in Manhattan. 'I can tell you that the overwhelming majority of them would not be OK with various relatives coming in and out of an apartment when the lessee is not there,' Mr. Freedland said. 'I would be very cautious about this sort of setup.' In many buildings, rules against overnight guests were put in place long before the city passed Local Law 18 restricting short-term rentals in 2023. This means that even if there is no short-term written agreement with your guests, and even if no money is changing hands, lending your apartment to them would still be against the building's rules. You might consider a condominium instead. The rules might be more flexible when it comes to overnight guests when you aren't there, Mr. Freedland said. A knowledgeable real estate agent or broker could help you find the right building.
