2015 All-America Research Team: Paper & Packaging, No. 2: Philip Ng

Holding on to the No. 2 position he earned in his debut appearance last year is Jefferies researcher Philip Ng.

2015-10-tom-johnson-res-all-america-research-team-philip-ng.jpg

< The 2015 All-America Research Team

2015-10-tom-johnson-res-all-america-research-team-philip-ng.jpg

Philip Ng
Jefferies
First-place appearances: 0

Total appearances: 2

Analyst debut: 2014

Holding on to the No. 2 position he earned in his debut appearance last year, Jefferies researcher Philip Ng “provides consistent clarity in a noisy market and has been a champion of the packagers,” one admirer reports. For example, Ng has maintained a positive outlook on Atlanta’s Graphic Packaging Holding Co. for more than four years — and clients cheer his persistence. The frozen-foods packager has earned his favor with everything from enhanced liquidity and expanded free cash flow to management’s commitment to rationalizing debt and launching of a quarterly dividend and share-repurchase scheme. In February 2014, after Graphic Packaging’s executive team became more cautious in its outlook for the year ahead, the 37-year-old analyst insisted that the manufacturer remained a strong long-term defensive story. Rated buy, the stock jumped 46.6 percent, to $13.71, through the middle of last month, which was better even than the sector’s gain of 22.7 percent. Over the life of the call, it outperformed its peers by 128.8 percentage points, rocketing 175.3 percent. It remains recommended, with a target price of $17. Another favorite among Ng’s portfolio of 15 names is Richmond, Virginia–based WestRock Co., which was formed by the July merger of Richmond’s MeadWestvaco Corp. and RockTenn Co. of Norcross, Georgia. The No. 2 packager in the U.S., by market cap (after International Paper Co. of Memphis, Tennessee), WestRock has drawn down inventory, he notes, and promises a repurchase program of 40 million shares, or 15 percent of those outstanding, along with a healthy annual dividend of $1.50 per share. His share price objective of $75 implies a 34.6 percent upside to the stock’s value in mid-September.

Sponsored

Related