Latest news with #SãoPaulo-based
Yahoo
5 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Banco Bradesco S.A. (BBD) Is Up 57% In 2025. Here Is Why
Banco Bradesco S.A. (NYSE:BBD) is among the 10 Most Undervalued Stocks to Buy for Under $5. The São Paulo-based company provides banking products and services to individuals and corporations in Brazil and internationally. It is one of the largest financial services groups in Latin America, having been in the market for over 80 years. A customer withdrawing money from an ATM, illustrating the company's widespread availability of accounts. The stock has returned nearly 57% year-to-date on the back of strong earnings, resulting in positive investor sentiment. Last month, Banco Bradesco S.A. (NYSE:BBD) reported financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2025, with recurring net income growing 39% year-over-year to BRL 5.9 billion, whereas the bank's revenue surged 15% to BRL 32 billion. Recent analyst ratings are also driving positive momentum for Banco Bradesco S.A. (NYSE:BBD). On May 28, Citigroup upgraded the stock's rating to Buy from Neutral, citing an encouraging outlook for the company's ROE in the short and mid-term. Analysts also expect an improvement in the bank's risk-adjusted revenues. This follows HSBC's revision earlier in the year, when it signaled confidence in Banco Bradesco S.A. (NYSE:BBD) by upgrading the stock from Hold to Buy. The bank's low forward P/E ratio and share price also make it an attractive entry point for investors. It is among the most undervalued stocks to buy for under $5. While we acknowledge the potential of BBD as an investment, we believe certain AI stocks offer greater upside potential and carry less downside risk. If you're looking for an extremely undervalued AI stock that also stands to benefit significantly from Trump-era tariffs and the onshoring trend, see our free report on the best short-term AI stock. READ NEXT: The Best and Worst Dow Stocks for the Next 12 Months and 10 Unstoppable Stocks That Could Double Your Money. Disclosure: None. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Alpargatas Inks Deal With The Eastman Group For Havaianas In North America
Havaianas owner Alpargatas S.A. is shifting gears in the North American market. The São Paulo-based company disclosed on Friday that it has signed an exclusive distribution agreement for the Havaianas brand of flip-flops for the U.S. and Canada with The Eastman Group. The pair will work together throughout 2025 on a transition process so the new model to have it ready in time for the 2026 season. More from WWD Hailey Bieber's Rhode Earned $20 Million in Media Exposure After E.l.f. Beauty Acquired the Brand for $1 Billion Colin Walsh to Step Down as CEO of P&G's Specialty Beauty Division Design Firm Dexelance Opens China Office to Fuel Expansion The move essentially shifts Alpargatas' operating model from direct operation to distribution. Alpargatas will remain focused on brand building, 'strengthening Havaianas brand power while focusing in portfolio assertiveness and brand competitiveness, aligned with Havaianas brand positioning and global strategy,' it said. The agreement includes an initial term of four years, and does not 'foresee any initial cash outflow for any party.' The terms of the agreement allow for an extension, either when certain metrics are met or by mutual agreement. The Eastman Group has operated in the U.S. market since 1939, and has a relevant presence in the footwear, apparel and lifestyle categories. It has U.S. distribution centers on both coasts, and relationships with major retailers across different distribution channels. Eastman counts over 30 distributed or licensed brands within its portfolio base. Alpargatas said the strategic partnership provides it with cost efficiency as it relies on a leaner local structure, In addition, it leverages the firm's presence in strategic channels via the expansion of the distribution network. Pedro Baptista, equity analyst for apparel, footwear and textiles in Latin America at Jefferies, has a 'buy' rating on shares of Alpargatas. He said North America accounted for 4 percent of group revenues and 16 percent of international in 2024. He described that deal with Eastman as a 'key strategic step' in North America. 'Alpargatas has historically been profitable in Europe, but the U.S. direct distribution model failed,' the analyst wrote in a research note. He said the new partnership is the step in the right direction, and that it could potentially lead to a licensing model. Eastman's portfolio of brands include Hurley, Eddie Bauer, Chaps, and Treton. Alpargatas also owns a 49 percent stake in Rothy's. Baptista noted that Brazilian firm has a call option to acquire the additional Rothy shares in 2025. In March, Gigi Hadid was named Havaianas' global brand ambassador. Havaianas' last celebrity partnership was a collaboration in 2023 with 'Euphoria' actress Barbie Ferreira, inspired by vintage Rio de Janeiro interior design and her Brazilian roots. And last month, Dolce & Gabbana and Havaianas launched an exclusive capsule that redefined the flip-flop with luxe details for summer. Best of WWD All the Retailers That Nike Left and Then Went Back Mikey Madison's Elegant Red Carpet Shoe Style [PHOTOS] Julia Fox's Sleekest and Boldest Shoe Looks Over the Years [Photos]
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
The World's Largest Meatpacker Is Finally Set for Its NYSE Debut
The world's biggest meat company is set to debut on the New York Stock Exchange, riding strong earnings and American consumers' fixation on protein. Ordinarily, such a deal would draw a crowd of banks, a big roadshow and a traditional listing-day bell-ringing ceremony. JBS is going a different route, simply making its shares available to trade and letting the market take it from there. The Case for Rate Cuts Is Growing Inside ABC News's Decision to Oust a Longtime Correspondent Boeing Crash in India Is First Fatal Incident Involving a 787 Jet Chime Financial Is the Latest IPO to Soar in Debut Aerospace Startup JetZero to Start Building Futuristic Planes in North Carolina The São Paulo-based company on Friday will directly list its shares on the Big Board, aiming to cement its image as an American meat conglomerate. JBS last week delisted its shares from Brazil's São Paulo Stock Exchange, where they had traded for almost two decades. 'This step will mark a new chapter in the company's journey,' JBS Chief Executive Gilberto Tomazoni said last month. The $15 billion Brazilian meatpacking conglomerate brings to U.S. markets a sprawling global operation—and some baggage. A corruption case in Brazil ensnared two of its founding family members, who did jail time related to the affair, and environmental groups have long alleged it has driven deforestation. How JBS's listing trades will be a barometer on whether U.S. investors harbor concerns about the company, or are eager to get a piece of its prospects. JBS leaders have been trying to list shares in the U.S. since at least 2016. Company officials have said the move would help reduce its cost of capital and expand its branded product offering. JBS Chief Financial Officer Guilherme Cavalcanti said that the company isn't raising capital from the listing and that moving its shares from Brazil to the U.S. will open the company to a broader pool of potential investors. He said the company doesn't need a roadshow and regularly talks to investors at conferences. 'We are just doing bureaucratic things in changing an exchange,' Cavalcanti said in an interview. 'Why should I pay something to the bank, right, if I don't need them?' Named for founder José Batista Sobrinho, JBS began as a family-owned slaughterhouse in the Brazilian countryside. The Bastista family built JBS into a beef powerhouse in its home country, and harnessed government-backed loans to help fund an international acquisition spree that made it a global giant. JBS employs roughly 280,000 people around the world, processing protein ranging from beef to salmon and lamb. More than half of JBS's nearly $80 billion in sales now come from North America, where it is the largest U.S. processor of beef, the second-largest pork supplier and the majority owner of Pilgrim's Pride, the second-largest American chicken company. JBS reported a nearly $2 billion profit for 2024 compared with a loss the prior year, and its annual sales surpassed Wall Street analysts' estimates. The company's past efforts to list its shares in the U.S. were interrupted by market conditions following the Covid-19 pandemic, executives have said. JBS has also dealt with fallout from a corporate corruption scandal in Brazil. J&F Investimentos, which is run by the Batista family and owns about half of JBS's stock, admitted in 2017 to paying about $150 million in bribes to Brazilian politicians to help secure cheap government funding for acquisitions. Fallout from that episode landed the billionaire brothers Joesley and Wesley Batista in jail for several months. J&F in 2020 settled a corruption case with U.S. authorities, which it said was important to improving corporate governance efforts. Some of the largest American banks, including Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan Chase and Goldman Sachs, won't do business with JBS for compliance reasons, according to people familiar with the matter. A JBS spokeswoman said the company has a robust compliance program and uses a number of American, Canadian, European and Latin American banks. She said that as JBS board members, Wesley and Joesley Batista bring decades of operational experience, including turning around many of its U.S. acquisitions over the years. U.S. lawmakers and environmental groups have raised concerns over JBS's stock listing plan. Last year a bipartisan group of senators, including now Secretary of State Marco Rubio, called on the Securities and Exchange Commission to scrutinize the listing, saying it could 'subject U.S. investors to risk from a company with a history of blatant, systemic corruption, and further entrench its monopoly power.' Environmental groups have urged the SEC and NYSE to bar the listing, citing what they called JBS's record of profiting from Amazon deforestation, which the company has denied. Last month, shareholder advisory firms Glass Lewis and Institutional Shareholder Services recommended JBS investors vote against the company's listing plans. The firms said the listing could give J&F Investimentos, the company's controlling shareholder, roughly 85% of voting power in the U.S.-listed company. JBS secured approval from the SEC earlier this year. Company shareholders in late May approved a plan to restructure the company in the Netherlands and move forward with a U.S. listing. In addition to its primary New York listing, JBS will trade in Brazil through Brazilian Depositary Receipts, or BDRs. In a letter to the SEC, Michael Martino, founder of Mason Capital Management, a JBS shareholder, said that being publicly traded in the U.S. would enhance the company's governance. 'We see a company built over many years from nothing to $80 billion in sales,' Martino said. Write to Patrick Thomas at and Corrie Driebusch at Scale AI Gets Meta Investment That Values It at More Than $29 Billion Why Warner Boss Zaslav Is Having to Split Up the Media Empire He Built More Financial Advisers Are Outsourcing Investment Decisions Norway Wealth Fund Puts TD Bank Under Observation Live Q&A: Ask Us Your Air Safety Questions Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
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Business Standard
09-06-2025
- Business
- Business Standard
UnitedHealth may sell Latin America arm for $1bn to refocus on US: Report
UnitedHealth Group is weighing multiple bids for its Latin American operations, according to two people with direct knowledge of the matter, as the insurer buckles down after a series of unprecedented missteps that include the ouster of its CEO and a reported criminal accounting probe. The largest US health insurer has been trying to exit Latin America since 2022, but the sale of Banmedica has taken on increasing urgency in recent months as the insurer took hits on multiple fronts, according to one of the people. New CEO Steve Hemsley told shareholders last week that he was determined to earn back their trust after an earnings miss and a Wall Street Journal report that the company was under criminal investigation for alleged Medicare fraud. UnitedHealth has said it was not notified by the Department of Justice and that it stands by the integrity of its operations. Hemsley replaced Andrew Witty just a few months after the murder of the executive Brian Thompson, the CEO of UnitedHealthcare, in New York in December while on his way to a meeting with investors. Witty had been UnitedHealth Group CEO since 2021. The company has four non-binding bids for its Banmedica subsidiary, which operates in Colombia and Chile, for about $1 billion, according to both people, who asked not to be identified because the talks are private. UnitedHealth's shares tumbled 25.5 per cent in May alone, and year-to-date are down 40 per cent. UnitedHealth left Brazil in 2023 and Peru in March. It's aiming to get around $1 billion for Banmedica's operations in Colombia and Chile, the people said. The two people said the company expects to set a deadline for binding proposals as soon as July. UnitedHealth received bids from: Acon Investments (Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm) Patria Investments (São Paulo-based private equity firm) Christus Health (Texas non-profit health firm) Auna (Lima-based healthcare and insurance provider, in talks with a financial partner) Banmedica's annual earnings before income taxes, depreciation and amortisation (EBITDA) is more than $200 million a year. Patria and Christus Health declined to comment. UnitedHealth, Acon, and Auna did not respond to requests for comment. UnitedHealth bought Banmedica in 2018, with then-CEO David Wichmann saying he was 'establishing a foundation for growth in South America for the next decades.' At the time, UnitedHealth paid around 12 times Banmedica's EBITDA, according to one of the people. Three years later, the insurer decided to leave Latin America as it grappled with losses in its largest operation in the region, Brazil's Amil, which had been acquired a decade earlier. It divested from its Brazilian operations in late 2023. Banmedica is currently profitable but is considered too small by UnitedHealth. It serves over 2.1 million consumers through its health insurance programs and handles around 4 million patient visits annually across its network of 13 hospitals and 143 medical centres. UnitedHealth booked an $8.3 billion loss last year related to the sale of its South American operations — $7.1 billion stemming from the Brazil exit and $1.2 billion from Banmedica. 'These losses relate to our strategic exit of South American markets and include significant losses related to foreign currency translation effects,' the company said in a February filing. Brazilian investment bank BTG Pactual is advising UnitedHealth on the sale.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
RioFilme Wants to Find the ‘Gagacabana of Audiovisual,' Is Currently in Talks to Attract Netflix's ‘Boys From Brazil' and MipTV to Rio
It's been a busy few weeks for RioFilme. The company, one of the largest city-backed audiovisual funds in Latin America, just had its first-ever stand at the Cannes' Marché du Film as part of Brazil Country of Honor and is gearing to open a dedicated stand for the first time at Rio's buzzy Rio2C, Latin America's largest creativity event taking place from May 27 to June 1. The Rio2C stand is held in partnership with Quanta, the São Paulo-based studio and post-production group that won the bid for the 30-year concession to Rio's massive Polo Rio Cine Video, a complex of seven studios built by City Hall by 1988. Quanta has invested $15 million in renovating the complex and creating extra stages and plans to have a total of 15 fully operational studios in Polo Rio by March 2026. More from Variety Sofa Digital Adds Three Specialty Film Channels, as FAST Markets, Led by Samsung TV Plus, Boom in Brazil (EXCLUSIVE) Brazil Emerges as FAST Streaming Powerhouse, Set to Soon Become Its Second Biggest International Market in the World (EXCLUSIVE) Rio2C's Industry Pitching Captures a Brazil Intent on Remembering the Forgotten, Its Slaves, Extraordinary Artists and an Emblematic Guerrilla Fighter The stand will showcase some of the industry's leading tech resources. Audience members will be able to attend presentations about virtual production and motion capture, with Guel Arraes and Flávia Lacerda's box office hit 'The Rogue's Trial' serving as a key showcase — a clear decision to emphasize the use of modern techniques in Brazilian productions. RioFilme will also be present at several panels, including one on the future of the Brazilian audiovisual production with Ancine's Alex Braga and the Ministry of Culture's executive secretary Marcio Tavares, where the Rio company will announce its new R$100 million ($18 million) incentive rollout. Speaking with Variety in Cannes ahead of Rio2C, the President of RioFilme, Leonardo Edde, highlights the company's internationalization efforts, saying they are currently looking for the 'Gagacabana of audiovisual.' By that, the executive is of course referring to the history-making free Lady Gaga concert in Copacabana Beach, which attracted over 2 million spectators to the sands of Rio early in May and attracted great international attention. 'I am trying to find the Lady Gaga of audiovisual,' emphasized Edde. 'Rio is ready for a production of this dimension. Today, Rio is capable of hosting major Hollywood productions that need studios as well as offering the natural beauty of the city and its surroundings.' One project that can fit this ambitious bill is Netflix's series adaptation of the Ira Levin novel 'The Boys From Brazil,' which Edde says they are 'actively trying to attract' to shoot in Rio. The project is set to star 'Succession' star Jeremy Strong and hails from Peter Morgan, the creator of the critically-acclaimed Netflix series 'The Crown.' Morgan is writing the adaptation and will executive produce along with Suzanne Mackie of Orchid Pictures. In the first quarter of 2025, Rio accounted for 80% of the Brazilian film market share. Rio has also been consolidating itself as one of the most filmed cities in the world, surpassing major cinematic destinations such as Paris and Mexico City. In 2024, the city of Rio surpassed Paris' numbers by nearly 40%, authorizing 8,782 filming days for 505 productions. 'Our goal is to pass Madrid, which had 12,000 shoot days at its highest,' adds Edde. 'For that to happen, we need skilled workers and are heavily investing in technical and artistic training. Today we have technical courses running alongside high schools, so pupils come out of high schools already trained as audiovisual technicians.' 'Another main goal for 2025 is to host more international productions,' continues the RioFilme president. 'We have a cashback program for productions coming from outside Rio and a specific program for international productions that help bring the name and image of Rio to the world. We came to Cannes to try to find a major production to bring to Rio. We want to do business. RioFilme is a public company, but it is a business.' Rio City's cash rebate, which allows foreign producers to receive a refund of up to 35% of the amount spent on filming in the city, was launched in 2022 and produced whopping results in the three years since. 'Our return on the rebate is almost 700%,' says the exec. 'We've seen a very rapid return on the rebate. In year one, it was 400%, year two was 700%, and we are now executing year three and promising a new cash rebate for 2025.' Edde says that, unlike many other cities that launch attractive rebate schemes to increase demand, Rio's rebate responded to a 'long-suppressed demand.' 'Rio is already a highly popular city that is widely recognized internationally, so the rebate was years in the making, and we are becoming more and more ambitious with it every year.' Although RioFilme maintains a firm autonomy within its territory, Edde has been quick to praise the work of the Ministry of Culture and the federal support they have received under the Lula government following years of cultural cutbacks under the Bolsonaro administration. 'Our relationship with the federal government is direct and prolific because Rio is a postcard for the country, and we want to establish ourselves as a great reference for the country's audiovisual industry.' The exec adds that Daniel Celli, the head of the Rio Film Commission, is working alongside the federal government on the development of a long-awaited national film commission, which he views as 'key' for the future of Brazil's industry. 'It's essential that we can create a national film commission that works as a hub for the whole country, because certain states and cities already have their commissions and they have to be centralized without stripping those bodies of their autonomy. I think this is the great challenge of the federal government, but also its great opportunity.' Although internationalization is a great priority, RioFilme continues its home efforts. 'We now have two main industry events where we can connect with audiences and industry members, Rio2C in the first half of the year and the Rio Film Festival in the second half. One of our focuses is the return of the Rio Film Festival as a major international festival. It has always been a reference, and we want the festival to be back to its full grandeur.' Edde also says he and his team are working to bring MipTV to Rio now that the major B2B market is looking for a new home following its Cannes departure. 'This is Brazil's moment. Rio has an Oscar with 'I'm Still Here' and an increased national interest in our national cinema. We are currently in talks to bring MipTV to Rio, we want other major events to be held in the city.' Best of Variety 'Harry Potter' TV Show Cast Guide: Who's Who in Hogwarts? New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz
