Donnelley Wins Guideposts Contract - Analyst Blog
October 02 2012 - 10:00AM
Zacks
Printing major R.R.
Donnelley & Sons Company (RRD) has secured a
multi-year multi-million dollar contract from Guideposts for
providing comprehensive printing solutions and logistics support to
the latter. Guideposts is a non-profit organization in the business
of publishing books and magazines, including the narration of
inspirational tales from real life.
Guideposts magazine has a massive
paid circulation of 2 million, selling more than 5.7 million books
every year. Apart from providing printing solutions for books and
magazines, Donnelley will be entrusted with printing management
services for forms, labels and other Guideposts productions.
Donnelley’s recent growth has been
driven by important contract wins. The latest contract from
Guideposts adds to the decent list of major multi-year contracts
won this very year from companies such as Metro Inc., Chrysler and
Office Depot Inc. (ODP). Other contract wins
include Herbalife, Meredith, Bauer Publishing Group, L.L. Bean and
Shop Direct Group in 2011. Donnelley also entered into accretive
partnerships with KBA and HarperCollins in 2011.
We believe that the new contracts
and partnerships bode well for Donnelley, as they help the company
tackle the growing threat of digital technologies that enable much
easier transfer, designing, resetting and reproduction of data.
Moreover, the new contract wins are a reflection of Donnelley’s
superior technology and growing reputation, which enhances its
competitive position, in our view.
However, we notice that in the
recently concluded quarter, U.S. print and related services revenue
for Donnelley was down 4.0% from the comparable prior-year quarter
to $1.85 billion. Lower volumes along with continued pricing
pressure across the segment and lower pass-through paper sales
affected this segment’s revenue.
Nonetheless, Donnelley has been
experiencing strong growth in the logistics segment. In the last
concluded quarter, this segment reported an 11.3% jump in revenue.
Strong growth in the logistics space along with volume increase in
certain office products restricted the decline in total revenues to
3.6% on a year-over-year basis.
We believe that Donnelley’s stock
will most likely remain under pressure in the near term due to weak
macroeconomic conditions prevailing in most of its current as well
as prospective markets. The continuing pricing pressure, volatility
in raw material prices and a highly leveraged balance sheet are
significant headwinds going forward.
In such a scenario, Donnelley is
expanding its scope beyond traditional markets primarily through
acquisitions. The company’s continued focus on acquisitions will
also spur its already dominant market position and drive long-term
growth, in our view.
We have a Neutral recommendation
over the long term (6-12 months). Currently, Donnelley has a Zacks
#3 Rank, which implies a Hold rating in the short term (1-3
months).
OFFICE DEPOT (ODP): Free Stock Analysis Report
DONNELLEY (RR) (RRD): Free Stock Analysis Report
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