Independent research on the U.S. markets, Baptista Research

Baptista Research

Independent research on the U.S. markets

Baptista Research is an independent financial research house focused on the U.S. markets. We provide equity research as well as credit research reports on the top-listed U.S. companies with most of our focus on technology, consumer goods and services, automobiles, industrials, oil and gas, pharma, and healthcare. Our research has served more than 3000 institutional investors including mutual funds, hedge funds, banks, family offices, and various buy-side firms. We operate a research subscription service where institutions, as well as retail investors, can have priority access to all our research. We also have a wide distribution of our research reports across some of the top global financial platforms. Apart from equity research and credit research, we also provide advisory services with respect to mergers & acquisitions (M&A), private equity/ venture capital fundraising, valuation reports, and investment management services for corporates.
Baptista Research is owned and managed by Ishan Majumdar, an ex-Venture Capitalist/ Investment Banker, a Chartered Accountant, and a Masters’ degree holder in Management from HEC Paris. Ishan has nearly a decade of experience in Mergers and Acquisitions, Leveraged Buyouts (LBOs), Venture Capital Investing, Corporate Strategy, and Valuation in front-office roles at the likes of BNP Paribas CIB, Credit Agricole CIB, Groupe Danone, and TIW Private Equity. He has worked on and closed multiple acquisition deals, leveraged buyouts, and start-up investment transactions.

Equity Bottom-Up

<ul><li>Smurfit Westrock reported a first-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $1,076 million with a margin of 14%, broadly meeting expectations despite significant weather-related disruptions costing approximately $65 million.</li><li>The company emphasized progress in integration, innovation, and its operating model, highlighting its broad product offering and a global, yet locally executed footprint as core competitive advantages.</li><li>Regionally, North America delivered $597 million in adjusted EBITDA with a 13.3% margin, impacted by weather-related downtime and operational challenges in Mexico, resulting in softer demand in the quarter.</li></ul>

Smurfit Westrock reported a first-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $1,076 million with a margin of 14%, broadly meeting expectations despite significant weather-related disruptions costing approximately $65 million.The company emphasized progress in integration, innovation, and its operating model, highlighting its broad product offering and a global, yet locally executed footprint as core competitive advantages.Regionally, North America delivered $597 million in adjusted EBITDA with a 13.3% margin, impacted by weather-related downtime and operational challenges in Mexico, resulting in softer demand in the quarter.

Smurfit Westrock: How North American Box Plant Turnarounds Could Unlock A Major Margin Recovery!

<ul><li>Smurfit Westrock has delivered mixed results in its fourth quarter and full-year 2025 performance, balancing a robust financial outcome with the challenges of portfolio optimization and macroeconomic pressures.</li><li>The company reported $1.172 billion in adjusted EBITDA for the quarter and $4.939 billion for the year, marking it as one of the leading figures in the packaging industry globally.</li><li>This achievement indicates strong operational effectiveness in challenging market conditions, characterized by regional variances in performance.</li></ul>

Smurfit Westrock has delivered mixed results in its fourth quarter and full-year 2025 performance, balancing a robust financial outcome with the challenges of portfolio optimization and macroeconomic pressures.The company reported $1.172 billion in adjusted EBITDA for the quarter and $4.939 billion for the year, marking it as one of the leading figures in the packaging industry globally.This achievement indicates strong operational effectiveness in challenging market conditions, characterized by regional variances in performance.

Smurfit WestRock: Can Robotics, Automation, and Smart CapEx Close the North America Margin Gap?

<ul><li>The latest earnings call for Smurfit Westrock highlighted a blend of achievements and ongoing challenges for the company, which recently formed from the merger of Smurfit Kappa and Westrock.</li><li>Key focal points include performance results, strategic adjustments, and regional performance insights.</li><li>Positively, Smurfit Westrock reported an adjusted EBITDA margin of 16.3% and operating cash flow of $1.1 billion, demonstrating financial stability amidst a challenging macroeconomic environment.</li></ul>

The latest earnings call for Smurfit Westrock highlighted a blend of achievements and ongoing challenges for the company, which recently formed from the merger of Smurfit Kappa and Westrock.Key focal points include performance results, strategic adjustments, and regional performance insights.Positively, Smurfit Westrock reported an adjusted EBITDA margin of 16.3% and operating cash flow of $1.1 billion, demonstrating financial stability amidst a challenging macroeconomic environment.

Smurfit Westrock: What Europe’s Growth & Germany’s Slowdown Mean for Investors!

<ul>
<li>Smurfit Westrock posted a robust performance for the second quarter of 2025, demonstrating strength in several key areas while facing challenges in others.</li>
<li>The company reported adjusted EBITDA of $1.213 billion, reflecting a solid margin performance of 15.3%.</li>
<li>This marks a significant improvement particularly due to more focused operations in North America, where the EBITDA margin reached 15.8%.</li>
</ul>


Smurfit Westrock posted a robust performance for the second quarter of 2025, demonstrating strength in several key areas while facing challenges in others.
The company reported adjusted EBITDA of $1.213 billion, reflecting a solid margin performance of 15.3%.
This marks a significant improvement particularly due to more focused operations in North America, where the EBITDA margin reached 15.8%.


Smurfit Westrock’s Focus On Cost Control: Can Energy & Fiber Savings Help Expand Margins?

Fundamental Analyses, Contrarian Cashflows

Contrarian Cashflows

Fundamental Analyses

The purpose of Contrarian Cashflows is to document my investment research and share it with everyone who is interested in value investing. My long term aspiration for Contrarian Cashflows is to become a platform for professional investors and serious amateurs where they can get inspiration and discuss investing-related topics.
I plan to publish one company deep dive per month that is guided by my investment approach. All information I use for my write-ups is publicly available and most of the time directly sourced from public filings issued by the respective companies. To guarantee maximum transparency, for every post I provide a list of all used sources in the resources section.
Contrarian Cashflows is built around the principles of respect, honesty, open-mindedness and a touch of humour. Please consider these principles in any engagement interaction with me, other readers and the content on this blog. Misbehaviour is not tolerated.
If you want to reach out to me directly, the best way is via LinkedIn, Twitter or email. You can find the details at my homepage contrariancashflows.com

Thematic (Sector/Industry)

<ul><li>Welcome to Random Walks Down David's Mind!</li><li>With inflation being a relevant macroeconomic variable in the US and Europe for the first time since the early 1990s, many currently active European and US investors are experiencing their first period of elevated inflation in their professional lives—or even their entire lives (yep, I was born after 1990!).</li><li>In this context, I am studying which businesses benefit from inflation and which are harmed by it.</li></ul>

Welcome to Random Walks Down David's Mind!With inflation being a relevant macroeconomic variable in the US and Europe for the first time since the early 1990s, many currently active European and US investors are experiencing their first period of elevated inflation in their professional lives—or even their entire lives (yep, I was born after 1990!).In this context, I am studying which businesses benefit from inflation and which are harmed by it.

RW-08-25: Inflation and Capital Intensity: Blessing or Curse?

United Kingdom

Smurfit WestRock Plc engages in the development and provision of packaging solutions. Its products include corrugated packaging, corrugated sheet boards, hexacomb packaging, and solid boards. The company was founded on July 6, 2017 and is headquartered in Dublin, Ireland.

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Smurfit WestRock (SW US)

Smurfit Westrock: How North American Box Plant Turnarounds Could Unlock A Major Margin Recovery!

Smurfit Westrock reported a first-quarter adjusted EBITDA of $1,076 million with a margin of 14%, broadly meeting expectations despite significant...

Baptista Research

Smurfit WestRock: Can Robotics, Automation, and Smart CapEx Close the North America Margin Gap?

Smurfit Westrock has delivered mixed results in its fourth quarter and full-year 2025 performance, balancing a robust financial outcome with the...

Baptista Research

Smurfit Westrock: What Europe’s Growth & Germany’s Slowdown Mean for Investors!

The latest earnings call for Smurfit Westrock highlighted a blend of achievements and ongoing challenges for the company, which recently formed...

Baptista Research

Smurfit Westrock’s Focus On Cost Control: Can Energy & Fiber Savings Help Expand Margins?

Smurfit Westrock posted a robust performance for the second quarter of 2025, demonstrating strength in several key areas while facing challenges in...

Baptista Research

RW-08-25: Inflation and Capital Intensity: Blessing or Curse?

Welcome to Random Walks Down David's Mind! With inflation being a relevant macroeconomic variable in the US and Europe for the first time since...

Contrarian Cashflows

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