ZIM tumbles as Barclays turns bearish

The shares of Israel’s Zim Integrated Shipping Services fell about 7% to $21 today in buoyant US markets.

Seeking Alpha (SA) wrote that a Barclays downgrade contributed to weakness as the broker cut its recommendation “to Underweight from Equal Weight with a $15 price target”, down from $26.5 previously, as it predicts “a global shipping downcycle in 2023-24”.

Unsurprisingly, Barclays believes the “container shipping industry is entering a period of ‘significant oversupply’ in 2023-24, estimating capacity will grow by 10%/year while demand is tracking at negative 3% compared with 2019.”

ZIM, whose stock started 2022 just below $17 a share, has enjoyed a great run this year, up over 23% despite today’s fall… investors taking profit ahead of its trading update, which is expected in early March, is hardly surprising.

(The full SA post can be found here.)