FINWIRES · TerminalLIVE
FINWIRES

Brown-Forman Enters Fiscal 2027 With Well-Supported Guidance, BofA Says in Upgrade

By
Brown-Forman Enters Fiscal 2027 With Well-Supported Guidance, BofA Says in Upgrade

Brown-Forman (BF.A, BF.B) enters fiscal 2027 with a well-supported guidance that is expected to shake off prior geographic drags and benefit from a sustained product momentum, BofA Securities said Monday.

Last week, the wine and spirits maker said it expected fiscal 2027 organic sales to be roughly flat after closing out last year unchanged too. "We anticipate the operating environment for fiscal 2027 to remain challenging," the parent of Jack Daniel's whiskey said at the time.

The company's fiscal fourth-quarter earnings unexpectedly fell on an annual basis. It expects full-year organic operating income to drop by 3% to 5%, compared with a 2% decrease in fiscal 2026.

"We view (fiscal 2027) guidance as well underpinned, reducing the risk of further earnings downgrades," BofA analyst Andrea Pistacchi said in a note to clients Monday. "Top-line is supported by strength in (emerging markets notably Brazil, Mexico, Turkiye) and continued outperformance in the US," Pistacchi said, adding that the new year is no longer expected to face a drag from Canada and the non-branded category.

The brokerage upgraded its rating on the Brown-Forman stock to neutral from underperform and raised its price objective to $28 from $26.50.

"Why not more positive?," Pistacchi said. "Top-line growth remains modest (broadly flat), and below other staples, and uncertainty on the pace of recovery in the US."

Shipments are expected to lag depletions slightly in the US this year, though the company is likely to continue to outperform the spirits market, BofA said.

"Management appears confident that Blackberry can sustain momentum as it laps the launch comps from August, while New Mix (ready-to-drink) has started strongly and is contributing meaningfully to US growth," Pistacchi said. "We also expect the strong momentum in emerging to continue."

The company's balance sheet is strong, while its cash conversion in improving, according to the note. BofA expects "more consistent and potentially accelerating" buybacks, supporting Brown-Forman's earnings growth through 2029.

In late April, Brown-Forman and French beverages firm Pernod Ricard said they terminated discussions regarding a potential business combination, as they were unable to reach "mutually agreeable" terms.

Related Articles

Japanese Bank Lending Jumps 5.7% in May, Topping Forecasts
US Markets

Japanese Bank Lending Jumps 5.7% in May, Topping Forecasts

Japanese bank lending in May grew the fastest since March 2021 on higher growth in major banks, according to data from the Bank of Japan released Monday.Bank lending in the country jumped 5.7% year over year in May, faster than the 5.4% rise in April and above the 5.6% forecast by Trading Economics.Total outstanding loans at major, regional, and shinkin banks reached 670.8 trillion yen during the month.Loans at major banks jumped 8.7% year over year, with 275.3 trillion yen in outstanding loans. The growth was faster than the 7.9% rise reported in April, the central bank said.Regional bank loans grew 4.3%, faster than the 4.2% increase in April. Total outstanding loans were at 316 trillion yen.Lending at major and regional banks combined rose 6.3% during the month, accelerating from 5.9% in April. Total outstanding loans as of May were at 591.4 trillion yen.Shinkin banks or cooperative-owned financial institutions saw loan growth at 1.7%, higher than the 1.5% increase seen a month ago, with total outstanding loans at 79.5 trillion yen.The heightened lending activity comes as businesses in the country boost borrowing to cover cash shortfalls due to mergers, capital investments, and investor pressure, Bloomberg reported separately the same day.Total deposits inched up 2.1% year over year in May, faster than the 1.9% growth in April. Total outstanding deposits were at 1.0826 quadrillion yen.City and regional bank deposits increased 2.4% year over year, with outstanding deposits of 920 trillion yen in May.Investment bank Jefferies said its impression of Japanese loans and deposits is positive due to stronger growth compared with the previous month, according to a report released Monday.

$^N225
Nvidia Strikes Partnerships With South Korea's SK Hynix, SK Telecom, Naver
US Markets

Nvidia Strikes Partnerships With South Korea's SK Hynix, SK Telecom, Naver

Nvidia has signed a trio of technology partnerships with South Korean tech companies SK Hynix (KRX:000660), SK Telecom (KRX:017670) and Naver (KRX:035420), according to press releases from the US chip giant on Sunday.The partnerships position South Korea as a major hub for Nvidia's AI infrastructure.Under a new multiyear hardware agreement, Nvidia and SK Hynix will co-develop advanced memory for Nvidia's AI supercomputers, including its upcoming Vera Rubin platform.The new Vera CPU, which handles central processing workloads for the Rubin architecture, is currently in full production. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told Bloomberg News that systems built on the new architecture are scheduled to begin shipping in the third quarter.The collaboration will also focus on producing custom memory for Nvidia's Jetson Thor robotic computing platforms.As part of the deal, the South Korean chipmaker, a rival to Samsung Electronics (KRX:005930) and Micron Technology, gains access to Nvidia software suites like PhysicsNeMo and Omniverse. SK Hynix plans to integrate these tools into its in-house simulation codes and 3D visualizations to build "digital twins" of its manufacturing facilities, optimizing autonomous fab operations and the movement of mobile robots.Nvidia has also partnered with SK Telecom to deploy the full-stack Nvidia DSX platform.The agreement aims to build a gigawatt-scale AI Cloud in South Korea, with the first AI data center scheduled to go online by 2027. This infrastructure will provide GPU-based cloud computing tailored to support sovereign, physical, and agentic AI workloads for enterprises across Korea, with plans to expand to Asia."Telecom networks are becoming national AI infrastructure," said Huang. "They connect people, companies, devices and machines - and now they can become the backbone of new AI clouds."Separately, Nvidia also teamed up with Naver to expand sovereign AI infrastructure, starting at 55 megawatts with plans to move to gigawatt scale using the DSX platform.Naver will leverage Nvidia's open model Nemotron 3 Ultra to further scale its HyperCLOVA X model for enterprise use.Naver will also deploy the Nvidia Cosmos platform to accelerate its "Seoul World Model," which uses real-world Korean spatial data to train autonomous driving systems.While the exact financial terms of these collaborations were not disclosed, Reuters reported that the hardware partnership with SK Hynix will run for at least two years, with an option to extend, following high-profile meetings between Jensen Huang, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, and Naver founder Lee Hae-jin.In Seoul trading at midday on Monday, SK Hynix's shares fell nearly 2%, Naver jumped almost 14%, while SK Telecom rose nearly 7%.

$KRX:000660$KRX:005930$KRX:017670$KRX:035420
Japan's Economy Expands in Q1 as BOJ Rate Decision Looms
US Markets

Japan's Economy Expands in Q1 as BOJ Rate Decision Looms

Japan's economy continued to grow in the first quarter, as investors looked ahead to a closely watched Bank of Japan policy meeting later this month.The country's economy expanded at an annualized rate of 1.8% in the first quarter, according to final data released by the Cabinet Office on Monday.The reading was revised down from the preliminary estimate of 2.1% growth.The final figure exceeded the market consensus forecast for a 1.3% increase, according to Trading Economics.Business investment fell 0.7% from the previous quarter, a sharp downward revision from an initial estimate of 0.3% growth. Meanwhile, private consumption, which makes up more than half of Japan's economy, rose 0.3%, matching the preliminary reading.The data comes as attention turns to the Bank of Japan's June 15-16 policy meeting, where policymakers are expected to consider another interest-rate increase.The growth figures are unlikely to derail expectations for further policy tightening.Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda signaled that a rate increase remains under consideration if policymakers judge that inflation risks outweigh the potential economic damage from the conflict in the Middle East."Even if the situation remains unclear, should it be judged that upside risks to prices outweigh downside risks to economic activity, it will be necessary to thoroughly discuss the pros and cons of raising the policy interest rate," Ueda said last week.Markets are pricing in roughly an 80% chance that the Bank of Japan will raise its short-term policy rate to 1% from 0.75% at its June 15-16 policy meeting."The impact of the Middle East situation didn't materialize in the first quarter, but it is likely to become apparent going forward," Shinichiro Kobayashi, chief economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg News."Given the recent remarks from the BOJ, it appears it is focusing more on curbing inflation, so I expect it to raise interest rates this month," he added.A move to 1% would lift the benchmark rate to its highest level since 1995 and mark the latest step in the central bank's effort to normalize monetary policy.Japan's wholesale prices rose 4.9% in April from a year earlier, accelerating at the fastest pace in three years as the war in Iran boosted oil and chemical prices.Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government approved a $19 billion supplementary budget on Wednesday to help cushion households from higher energy costs stemming from the conflict in the Middle East.The yen's weakness has added to inflationary pressures in resource-poor Japan, which relies heavily on energy imports from the Middle East.Japanese authorities have spent a record amount of foreign-exchange reserves over the past month to support the currency after it weakened beyond the 160-per-dollar level, signaling concerns about the impact of a weaker yen on import costs and inflation.

$^N225