WestRock rises after Q4 results

WestRock Co

09/11/2023 12:34

** Shares of paper and packaging company WestRock Co  WRK.N 
 rise 1.4% to $37.96 premarket
    ** Co reported Q4 adj eps of 81 cents per share, beating
Wall Street estimates of 74 cents per share - LSEG data
    ** Co, however, reported a near 8% decline in net sales from
a year ago, as packaging firms face softening of volumes after
the pandemic and struggle to match up volumes created by a boom
in demand for goods and e-commerce during COVID-19 lockdowns
    ** Results negatively impacted by $64 mln due to economic
downtime and a $40 million increase in pension costs, says co
    ** Irish rival Smurfit Kappa  SKG.I  said in Sept it agreed
to take over WRK in a $11-billion deal 
    ** Four of eight brokerages rate the stock "buy" or higher,
while the rest rate it at "hold"; their median PT is $41
    ** Up to Wednesday's close, stock had risen 6.5% YTD

 (Reporting by Aatreyee Dasgupta)
 ((Aatreyee.Dasgupta@thomsonreuters.com))