Citi Downgrades International Paper and WestRock on Demand Questions
2022.06.21 18:00
Citi Downgrades International Paper (IP) and Westrock (WRK) on Demand Questions
By Sam Boughedda
Shares of both International Paper Company (NYSE:IP) and WestRock Company (NYSE:WRK) have dipped in early Tuesday trading after they were downgraded to Neutral by Citi analyst Anthony Pettinari.
The downgrades come after cautious commentary on Friday evening from P&PW and evidence of slowing demand.
“While Containerboard stocks have outperformed YTD (-4.9% vs. S&P -22.9%), we’re less confident the outperformance can continue in 2H,” said Pettinari. Demand for durables & distribution goods (~25% of box demand) is slowing, and we expect Y/Y industry shipments to be negative through year-end. ~1.8mmt of capacity is scheduled to be added in 2H ‘22, which we model pushing op rates
