According to Alphaliner, container lines’ shares lost between 20% and 70% of the value of their shares over the course of 2022, with ZIM bearing the brunt of investors fearing the carrier’s future earnings won’t cover costly costs. charter contracts. The analyst assures a strong drop of 70% in the value of the shares of the container lines in 2022
ZIM shares traded at $17.19 on the last day of the year, down 70% from its January debut of $56.76. Meanwhile, Wan Hai Lines, Evergreen Marine and COSCO have seen their share prices halve between January and December, Alphaliner says.
On the other hand, Matson, HMM and OOIL posted the smallest price declines, between 21% and 29%, but this was skewed by the timing of their stock performance. HMM shares peaked and took most of their losses in 2021, while OOIL and Matson peaked later in the first quarter of 2022, paring the loss from January to December, Alphaliner reports.
It also highlights that both operators are currently trading at 50% of their 52-week highs.
Meanwhile, Hapag-Lloyd and Maersk saw their shares fall 38% and 35% from January to December, though Maersk held up better. It is 36% below its 52-week high, while Hapag-Lloyd is 60% below.
Overall, he mentions that the 11 publicly traded container carriers saw roughly $90 billion of their market capitalization wiped between early and late 2022 as rate prospects and rapidly diminishing shipping congestion shipping spooked investors, even as financial results remained strong.
However, today’s collective market capitalization for the 11 carriers (converted to US dollars at current exchange rates) stands at $145 billion, or 2.3 times more than pre-pandemic levels. Although falling freight rates have made investors nervous, attention could shift to the underlying value of companies if rates were to stabilize for a consistent period. All carriers now have significant cash reserves, Alphaliner concludes.
Source: Alphaliner
