Latest news with #InternationalPaperCompany
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
International Paper Company (IP) to Shut Down Five UK Locations, Cut 300 Jobs
International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) has announced plans to close five of its UK facilities, putting roughly 300 jobs at risk. The decision comes shortly after its £5.8 billion acquisition of UK-based competitor DS Smith and amid a challenging business climate. With a global workforce of around 65,000 across more than 30 countries, International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) specializes in sustainable packaging and paper products. It said the closures are part of a broader effort to improve efficiency and better respond to shifting customer needs in a difficult trading environment. A strategic review of its UK operations prompted the planned shutdowns, although the specific sites have not yet been named. In addition to the closures, International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) plans to move one facility, scale back operations at another from seven days to five, and make small staff reductions at two more sites. In total, about 300 positions are expected to be affected by the end of the year. International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) said it is currently in consultation with employees and trade unions. IP has surged by nearly 5% in the past 12 months. While we acknowledge the potential of IP to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that some AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and have limited downside risk. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than IP and that has 100x upside potential, check out our report about this cheapest AI stock. READ MORE: and Disclosure. None.
Business Wire
21-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
ITT Announces Appointment of Mary Laschinger to Board of Directors
STAMFORD, Conn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- ITT) today announced the election of Mary Laschinger to its Board of Directors, effective today. Ms. Laschinger served as Chief Executive Officer and Chair of the Board of Directors of Veritiv Corporation (NYSE: VRTV), a leading business-to-business distribution solutions company, from July 2014 until her retirement in September 2020. Prior to leading Veritiv, Ms. Laschinger held multiple senior management roles over more than 20 years at International Paper Company. 'We are honored that Mary has joined the ITT Board of Directors. She has significant global experience with industrial companies that operate in markets similar to ITT, as well as a track record of leading successful teams within these organizations. Notably, this includes the turnaround of several business units from underperformers to top-quartile success stories. Mary's appointment is another strong step in our ongoing board refreshment strategy. With her vast global experience as a public company CEO and director on two other public boards, she will be tremendously additive to ITT moving forward,' said ITT's Chairman of the Board Timothy H. Powers. 'Mary is truly a trailblazer. From her early career as a staff member on a warehouse operations team, to transportation and logistics roles, and all the way to becoming a Fortune 500 CEO. She has shown an incredible ability to drive sustainable results, leading organizations across the U.S., Europe and Asia. Mary's global experience in complex manufacturing operations, product management and M&A will be an asset to the ITT of today and the future. We are humbled to have Mary join the ITT board,' said ITT's Chief Executive Officer and President Luca Savi. About Mary Laschinger Prior to joining Veritiv, Ms. Laschinger served as Senior Vice President of International Paper Company, a global leader in sustainable packaging and pulp products, from 2007 to July 2014. She also served as President of International Paper's former distribution business and president of its Europe, Middle East, Africa and Russia businesses. Ms. Laschinger currently serves on the Board of Directors of Kellanova, previously Kellogg Company, a global leader in food manufacturing, and of Dollar Tree Inc., a multi-price point chain of discount variety stores. Additionally, Ms. Laschinger is a member of the Executive Advisory Council for Apollo Global Management. Ms. Laschinger holds a bachelor's degree in business from the University of Wisconsin and a Master of Business Administration degree from the University of Connecticut. She has also completed postgraduate studies in executive management at the Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University. About ITT ITT is a diversified leading manufacturer of highly engineered critical components and customized technology solutions for the transportation, industrial, and energy markets. Building on its heritage of innovation, ITT partners with its customers to deliver enduring solutions to the key industries that underpin our modern way of life. ITT is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, with employees in more than 35 countries and sales in approximately 125 countries. For more information, visit ITT-O
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is International Paper Company (IP) Among the Top Commodity Producers With the Highest Upside Potential?
We recently compiled a list of the Top 15 Commodity Producers With the Highest Upside Potential. In this article, we are going to take a look at where International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) stands against the other Commodity Producer stocks. Commodity producer stocks are shares of publicly listed firms that produce, explore, or distribute commodities. These businesses are frequently interested in metals, mining, agriculture, and energy. Commodity producer stocks are chosen by investors to obtain exposure to both the equity and commodities markets, potentially profiting from heightened interest in either. The commodity market is booming. According to a research report, the size of the global commodity services market was projected at $3.56 billion in 2024 and is anticipated to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.65% from 2025 to 2034, from $3.87 billion in 2025 to roughly $8.16 billion by 2034. Regionally, the commodity services industry is dominated by North America, while Asia Pacific is projected to grow at a quick pace. However, the World Bank's April 2025 Commodity Markets Outlook projects that global commodity prices will plummet, falling 12% in 2025 and further 5% in 2026 to their lowest level since 2020. The anticipated drop is being driven by slowing global economic growth and persistently high oil supply. This decline carries risks to economic growth in developing countries, with two-thirds likely to see setbacks, even though it may reduce short-term price pressures associated with rising trade barriers. Notwithstanding the drop, nominal prices will still be higher than they were before the pandemic. Ayhan Kose, the World Bank Group's Deputy Chief Economist and Director of the Prospects Group, stated: 'Commodity prices have whipsawed throughout the 2020s—plummeting with arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic, then surging to record highs after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, and then sinking again,' said Ayhan Kose, the World Bank Group's Deputy Chief Economist and Director of the Prospects Group. 'In an era of geopolitical tensions, surging demand for critical minerals, and more frequent natural disasters, that could become the new normal. Successfully navigating through repeated commodity prices swings will require developing economies to build fiscal space, strengthen their institutions, and improve investment climates to facilitate job creation.' On the other hand, Morgan Stanley, on February 21, highlighted that 2025 is anticipated to be a crucial year for commodity markets, influenced by supply fundamentals, inflation patterns, and dollar fluctuations. Inflation in the United States is still high, falling short of the Federal Reserve's 2% target in December with headline CPI readings of 2.9% and core CPI readings of 3.2%. After the U.S. presidential election, policy changes—particularly related to immigration, deficits, and tariffs—have raised inflation expectations. According to data from the University of Michigan, they rose from 2.8% to 3.3% in just one month. Commodity prices have generally been supported by these conditions. Since late September, the U.S. dollar has risen by almost 8%, in part because of growing interest rates and policy expectations. Global demand for commodities is usually pressured by a strong dollar, but if the currency stabilizes or depreciates, it may eliminate a significant obstacle. Although recent contango suggests sufficient short-term supply, a yield-adjusted perspective reveals markets in backwardation at about 4%, showing ongoing physical tightness. This suggests that inventories for essential commodities remain low, making the market more susceptible to demand shocks. Commodity performance in 2025 is supported by tight supply, high inflation, as well as potential dollar weakness. A close-up view of a hand assembling boxes of industrial packaging on an assembly line. To collect data for this article, we examined companies operating in the commodity sector and then compiled a list of the stocks with the highest upside potential according to Wall Street analysts, as of May 1, 2025. To keep our list relevant, we have only included companies with a market cap of $10 billion and above. The following are the Commodity Producers with the Highest Upside Potential. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 275% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 150 percentage points. (see more details here). Analysts' Upside Potential as of May 01: 25.75% International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) produces cellulose fibers and packaging products. It accounts for approximately one-third of the North American corrugated packaging market. Although it operates in China, India, and Brazil, North America accounts for over three-quarters of its sales. The firm caters to various end markets, such as manufacturing, consumer goods, and industrial. The stock surged by more than 26% in the past year, making it one of the Best Commodity Stocks. International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) produces cellulose fibers and packaging items. It accounts for approximately one-third of the North American corrugated packaging market. Despite having businesses throughout Europe, North America accounts for more than three-quarters of its sales. Although the business has been able to boost pricing and margins due to ten years of consolidation in the corrugated packaging market, recent years have seen a decline in profitability due to growing costs and more intense competition. International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) announced first-quarter revenue growth of 28% YoY. Nonetheless, the quarter's packaging demand was hindered by the potential impact of tariffs and economic uncertainties. Softer demand is still a challenge, although higher selling prices, mostly in North America, were able to offset this. Since practically all of its packaging is made and marketed in the same region, and because its inputs are all obtained locally, the company has no direct exposure to tariffs. However, a slowdown in consumer spending or the growth of the global gross domestic product could have a huge impact on volumes; thus, the company is exposed to indirect effects. Nevertheless, International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) is still following its 80/20 approach, which involves cutting expenses in its legacy network and has now started to do the same with DS Smith. This should help margins in the face of a downturn in volume. ClearBridge Mid Cap Strategy stated the following regarding International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) in its Q1 2025 investor letter: 'We exited our position in chemical manufacturer Ashland. We redeployed the proceeds to relatively new holding International Paper Company (NYSE:IP), which we believe represents a strong turnaround story under the leadership of a new CEO and his plan to optimize its footprint, adjust pricing dynamics and improve margins over the next few years.' Overall, IP ranks 12th on our list of the Top Commodity Producers With the Highest Upside Potential. While we acknowledge the potential of IP as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than IP but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about this . READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.
Yahoo
14-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is International Paper Company (IP) the Best Paper Stock to Buy According to Hedge Funds?
We recently published a list of . In this article, we are going to take a look at where International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) stands against other best paper stocks to buy according to hedge funds. Paper stocks encompass producers of paper, pulp, packaging products, toilet paper, and forestry operators. This sector typically thrives during periods of economic expansion when consumer spending, ecommerce activity, and industrial production are accelerating, driving higher demand for commercial packaging and consumer paper products. The performance of paper stocks strongly correlates with commodity prices of pulp and timber, as well as with the price of energy and freight, which are large cost inputs in the production chain. Consequently, paper-related stocks generally thrive in inflationary environments due to their pricing power, as producers can easily pass any inflation onto consumers and capture a margin of the price increase. Conversely, these stocks underperform during economic slowdowns as consumer demand and industrial activity fall, and lower commodity prices pressure profitability. Some investors avoid this sector as they mistakenly consider it low growth and disrupted. Their perception is based on a tough 2010s decade marked by several challenges that pressured growth. Here is how AFRY Advisory commented on the paper market: 'With the universal move to digital communication, the demand for print has been on a steep decline, triggering massive shutdowns in the graphic paper sector and sizeable entries in the packaging board market through conversions and grade changes from graphics to packaging grades. The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic deepened the paper markets' decline as decreasing economic activity and lockdowns further contracted the demand for graphics and office papers, while hygiene and corrugated packaging businesses recovered more effectively.' READ ALSO: The struggles of the paper & paper products sector, as proxied by a timber ETF that includes many paper companies as well, extended into the 2020s. In early 2025, just before the US stock market entered correction mode, the sector reached a new all-time low relative to the broad market. Another global timber and wood ETF shows a similar picture – years of underperformance relative to the broad market, which killed most of the investor interest in this sector. Despite sluggish performance in the last years, we believe that the underfollowed paper sector may become favored in the following years due to a plethora of factors triggered by the new Trump 2.0 administration in the US. First, we already know that paper stocks thrive during inflationary periods, and the US appears to have entered a multi-year period of above-average inflation due to the trade wars initiated by President Trump. Many of the paper companies have operations spanning several continents, with cultivation, processing, and selling often happening in two or three different countries, which means that the production chain may become subject to tariffs. Under such circumstances, paper companies will fully pass any inflationary pressures onto the end customer, meaning that they would capture a higher margin in absolute dollar value. The hypothesis of higher inflation in the US is fully supported by the 10-year US treasury yield climbing to 4.58% on April 11, significantly above the second half of 2024. Second, the current US administration is a notorious proponent of onshoring, which means a partial or full return of manufacturing activity into the US. Paper stocks are positively correlated to the level of industrial and commerce activity in the US and could benefit from the accelerating demand for paper used in industrial and commercial packaging. In fact, the onshoring trend is already happening as several corporations, from semiconductors to automobile manufacturers and other consumer discretionary businesses, announced plans to boost their manufacturing presence in the US. We used a stock screener and thematic ETFs to identify companies engaged in the production of pulp, toilet paper, newspapers, cardboard, forest, and other paper-related products. Then we compared the list with Insider Monkey's proprietary database of hedge funds' ownership and included in the article the top 10 stocks with the largest number of hedge funds that own the stock as of Q4 2024. The stocks are ranked in ascending order of the hedge funds having stakes in them. Why are we interested in the stocks that hedge funds pile into? The reason is simple: our research has shown that we can outperform the market by imitating the top stock picks of the best hedge funds. Our quarterly newsletter's strategy selects 14 small-cap and large-cap stocks every quarter and has returned 373.4% since May 2014, beating its benchmark by 218 percentage points (). A close-up view of a hand assembling boxes of industrial packaging on an assembly line.International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) is a leading global producer of fiber-based packaging and pulp products, operating manufacturing facilities across North America, Europe, Latin America, and Africa. IP's primary business segments include industrial packaging (producing containerboard and corrugated boxes) and pulp, which supplies fluff, paper-grade, and specialty pulps. The company's client base spans across industries like e-commerce, retail, and consumer goods. Through the recent acquisition of DS Smith in 2025, International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) is positioned to become a global leader in sustainable packaging solutions focused on North America and EMEA markets. The company is implementing significant cost reduction initiatives, targeting $1.2 billion in net cost improvements, with approximately $120 million in annual corporate cost reductions and $110 million from facility closures already announced. IP's commercial strategy reset is progressing as planned, with volume trends stabilizing and expected to show improvement in the latter half of 2025. International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) is also making strategic investments to enhance its competitive position, including a new greenfield box plant in Iowa designed to deliver 20% lower costs and improved product quality. Management is focused on improving mill reliability and operational performance, addressing approximately $350 million in performance-related costs from 2024. The implementation of an 80/20 strategy has shown promising results in pilot locations, with 20% productivity gains, and will be expanded to 22 more box plants in 2025. These initiatives are part of a broader transformation aimed at creating a performance-driven, customer-centric culture to achieve $4 billion in EBITDA in the medium term. Overall, IP ranks 1st on our list of best paper stocks to buy according to hedge funds. While we acknowledge the potential of IP to grow, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns and doing so within a shorter time frame. There is an AI stock that went up since the beginning of 2025, while popular AI stocks lost around 25%. If you are looking for an AI stock that is more promising than IP but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. READ NEXT: 20 Best AI Stocks To Buy Now and 30 Best Stocks to Buy Now According to Billionaires. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Sign in to access your portfolio
Yahoo
11-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
International Paper Company (IP) Stock Experienced a Strong Turnaround After Leadership Change
ClearBridge Investments, an investment management company, released its 'ClearBridge Mid Cap Strategy' first quarter 2025 investor letter. A copy of the letter can be downloaded here. Though initially positive, stories on possible tariffs, global trade conflict, and a rotation out of AI-related tech firms send equities lower in the first quarter. In this environment, the ClearBridge Mid Cap Strategy underperformed the benchmark, Russell Midcap Index in the quarter, due to idiosyncratic headwinds, strengthened by the market volatility; put pressure on several of strategy's technology and industrial holdings. In addition, please check the fund's top five holdings to know its best picks in 2025. In its first quarter 2025 investor letter, ClearBridge Mid Cap Strategy emphasized stocks such as International Paper Company (NYSE:IP). International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) produces and sells renewable fiber-based packaging and pulp products. The one-month return of International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) was -10.13%, and its shares gained 24.39% of their value over the last 52 weeks. On April 10, 2025, International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) stock closed at $46.20 per share with a market capitalization of $24.388 billion. ClearBridge Mid Cap Strategy stated the following regarding International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) in its Q1 2025 investor letter: "We exited our position in chemical manufacturer Ashland. We redeployed the proceeds to relatively new holding International Paper Company (NYSE:IP), which we believe represents a strong turnaround story under the leadership of a new CEO and his plan to optimize its footprint, adjust pricing dynamics and improve margins over the next few years." A close-up view of a hand assembling boxes of industrial packaging on an assembly line. International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) is not on our list of 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. As per our database, 54 hedge fund portfolios held International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) at the end of the fourth quarter compared to 44 in the third quarter. While we acknowledge the potential of International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) as an investment, our conviction lies in the belief that AI stocks hold greater promise for delivering higher returns, and doing so within a shorter timeframe. If you are looking for an AI stock that is as promising as NVIDIA but that trades at less than 5 times its earnings, check out our report about the cheapest AI stock. We covered International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) in another article, where we shared ClearBridge Mid Cap Strategy's views on the company in the previous quarter. In addition, please check out our hedge fund investor letters Q1 2025 page for more investor letters from hedge funds and other leading investors. READ NEXT: Michael Burry Is Selling These Stocks and A New Dawn Is Coming to US Stocks. Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey. Sign in to access your portfolio
