Latest news with #WEX


CNBC
a day ago
- Business
- CNBC
Industrial plays for the second half, and why Netflix is primed to go even higher
(This is a wrap-up of the key money moving discussions on CNBC's "Worldwide Exchange" exclusive for PRO subscribers. Worldwide Exchange airs at 5 a.m. ET each day.) Investors are seeing opportunity in tech outside the "Magnificent Seven" and giving top picks in the industrials space after it finished the first half of 2025 as the top-performing sector. Worldwide Exchange pick: Netflix Victoria Greene of G Squared said Netflix still has more second half upside despite a more than 50% gain in the first six month of the year and a forward PE ratio of 50. "Bulls don't die from a big PE," Greene said. "You need to focus on the fact that linear TV is still under a lot of pressure, streaming is just now becoming the highest percentage of viewership." She added: "They are brilliant in what they are doing, look at their pricing tiers, their addition of ad-based which hasn't really made much. But we think ad revenue is going to be $3 billion and that is going to ramp up closer to $10 billion." In April, Netflix guided for ad revenue to "roughly double" this year while referring to it as "very small relative to subscription revenue." WEX pick: Johnson Controls Amit Mehrotra, industrials head at UBS, said Johnson Controls is one of his top picks. "It's really tied to the energy efficiency trade," said Mehrotra "Fifty-percent of it's business is commercial HVAC. When you think about data centers or all the demand for power in the U.S. as power prices go higher, the payback for upgrading commercial HVAC is meaningful." Johnson Controls has a consensus overweight rating and $105 price target, according to FactSet. Mehrotra's other top industrials picks for the second half of 2025 are 3M and Honeywell . Bullish on midcaps Alan McKnight of Regions Asset Management is bullish on midcap companies in the second half of the year, seeing a catchup trade after underperformance against the S & P 500. "When you think about it from an earnings growth perspective, they are almost on parity on growth, but the valuation disparity doesn't accurately the opportunity going forward in Midcap," said McKnight. "For those companies in the midcap space that have solid balance sheets, that have good earnings growth on par with what we are looking at in large cap, they should start to receive a garner a valuation that is more akin to what their large cap peers are receiving." The S & P 500 trades at approximately 23 times forward earnings while the S & P Midcap 400 trades at approximately 16 times forward earnings.

Yahoo
29-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New Mexico State Ethics Commission settles with Cuba mayor
The New Mexico State Ethics Commission has reached a settlement with the mayor of the village of Cuba over alleged violations of the Governmental Conduct Act. 'Following an investigation, the Commission found reason to believe that [Mayor Denny Herrera] improperly benefitted from a village directive requiring employees to exclusively refuel Village vehicles' at a gas station Herrera owns, the commission wrote in a news release announcing the settlement Wednesday. Herrera, who is serving his first term as mayor, said in an interview Wednesday the directive was issued by 'prior administrations.' 'I should've caught it sooner, since Day 1,' he said. 'It's something that slipped by me, and it shouldn't happen.' Herrera said the village has long had a charge account at his gas station. 'Once this was brought up, I issued credit cards to everybody in the whole city and released an internal statement stating that they could purchase fuel at any location that accepted WEX cards,' he said. 'All we did was recommend that they purchase it within city limits if they could to keep the fuel tax in the city.' As part of the agreement, Herrera formally notified the village May 14 of his ownership interest in DDH Inc. Fuel Service Station 'and clarified that village employees are free to purchase fuel from any station that accepts WEX cards, in compliance with state and local procurement rules,' the news release states. Herrera also agreed to pay $2,500 to the state and $1,000 to the village within seven days of the agreement's execution. 'New Mexico's Governmental Conduct Act broadly prohibits a public officer from using the powers and resources of their public office to obtain a private benefit, and the Act specifically forbids public officers from selling goods, services or construction to public employees under their supervision,' the release states. 'The Commission works so that New Mexicans can trust that public officers will adhere to those basic principles.'


Business Wire
22-05-2025
- Business
- Business Wire
Impactive Capital Comments on Clear Message Sent by WEX Inc. Shareholders That Board Change Is Needed
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Impactive Capital, LP, ('Impactive' or 'we') together with its affiliates, one of the largest shareholders of WEX Inc. (NYSE: WEX) (the 'Company' or 'WEX') with an ownership interest of approximately 7.0%, today commented on the results of the Company's 2025 annual meeting of stockholders (the 'annual meeting'). Impactive previously disclosed its intention to vote against the election of three directors – Jack VanWoerkom, Melissa Smith, and James Neary – in its open letter to shareholders on May 2, 2025. Each of these three directors received high percentages of against votes at the annual meeting. Specifically: Jack VanWoerkom, Lead Independent Director, who has served on the Board for two decades, received only 57.2% support 1, a decline of 38.4 percentage points compared to 95.6% support last year, placing him in the 0.3 rd percentile 2 of all directors elected at S&P 400 companies in 2024; Melissa Smith, CEO and Chairwoman, received only 64.3% support 1, a decline of 33.4 percentage points from 97.7% last year, placing her in the 0.6 th percentile 2 of all directors elected at S&P 400 companies in 2024; James Neary, Director, who has served for nearly a decade and was initially appointed to represent Warburg Pincus, which has not held a position in WEX for three years, received only 67.0% support, a decline of 32.8 percentage points from 99.8% last year, placing him in the 0.8 th percentile 2 of directors elected at S&P 400 companies in 2024. Lauren Taylor Wolfe, Co-Founder and Managing Partner of Impactive, stated: 'WEX's shareholders sent a clear message that they no longer have confidence in the current Board. As one of WEX's largest and most committed long-term investors, we want nothing more than to see the Company succeed. Unfortunately, the gap between WEX's intrinsic value and its stock price has continued to widen and the Company has shown no indication that it possesses a viable strategy for reversing this trend. In spite of our attempts over the past four years to work constructively to address the Company's valuation gap, the Board has repeatedly dismissed our efforts to strengthen shareholder alignment by adding an Impactive representative as a director. In our letter issued earlier this month, we disclosed our intention to vote against three directors after private engagement about strategic, value enhancing ideas and shareholder alignment were dismissed. The fact that each of these individuals saw their support from shareholders decline by more than 30 percentage points – without Impactive even soliciting proxies or taking any public action beyond our letter – is a direct indicator that investors share our disillusionment with the status quo. It is a particularly notable rebuke that Ms. Smith received only 64% support, given her position as the Company's CEO and Chairwoman charged with not only overseeing WEX's strategy, but also its engagement with shareholders. Impactive's preference is to engage privately and constructively. We have a successful track record of working collaboratively with boards, management teams and reasonable advisors to agree on beneficial solutions that are in the best interests of all stakeholders. However, it has become clear that WEX is not interested in good faith engagement. That is why we intend to nominate at least four directors for election at next year's annual meeting, barring a significant reversal of the Company's underperformance or approach to engagement in the coming months.' About Impactive Impactive Capital, LP is an active investment management firm based in New York. Impactive invests in high quality, attractively valued businesses and engages collaboratively with management teams and Boards to unlock shareholder value using capital allocation, operational and returns-linked ESG tools. Investing over a longer term, multi-year time horizon allows Impactive to think and invest like owners to drive long term sustainable returns for all shareholders. 1 Support calculated as 'For' votes divided by sum of For, Against, Abstain, and Broker Non-votes. 2 Percentile calculated based on the number of election results below the director divided by 2,943 director election results at S&P 400 companies in 2024.


CNA
22-05-2025
- Business
- CNA
Exclusive-Impactive Capital may run proxy fight at WEX, seeking 4 of 11 directors, source says
NEW YORK :Activist investor Impactive Capital is gearing up for a boardroom fight at financial technology company WEX Inc, and may nominate at least four directors at next year's annual meeting, according to a person familiar with the matter and a document seen by Reuters. The share price of WEX has slid 30 per cent in the last 52 weeks. Impactive, which owns roughly 7 per cent of the company and has been a shareholder for four years, is ratcheting up pressure on the payments company only days after its May 15 annual meeting. WEX, whose services include payment processing and information management for vehicle fleets, employee benefits, business payments, and travel payments, has a market value of roughly $4.5 billion. Frustration has been simmering for years as Impactive privately pressed WEX to simplify its business and create greater alignment between the company and its shareholders but feels its requests have been dismissed, the source said. The source was not permitted to discuss the hedge fund's private plans. Specifically Impactive has urged WEX to consider spinning off its benefits segment and has suggested adding a investor to the 11-member board of directors. Late last year, Impactive asked to join the board but has so far not been invited on, the person said. A representative for the company was not immediately available for comment. Despite its strong market positioning, attractive assets and competitive advantages, WEX has underperformed and lagged behind peers, including Corpay, Impactive said earlier this month in a public letter to shareholders. In an effort to exert pressure, Impactive said on May 2 that it would vote against three directors, including the company's chair, Melissa Smith, and lead director, Jack VanWoerkom, at the May 15 meeting. While all three were re-elected, shareholders' significant votes "against" the directors signal concern. Impactive has only run one proxy fight during its seven-year lifetime and said publicly at conferences that it prefers to engage with companies and management privately to fix problems. Two years ago Impactive settled a proxy fight with Envestnet when the financial technology company added three new directors, including Impactive co-founder Lauren Taylor Wolfe. But Impactive is eyeing a potential second board challenge by taking on WEX because it worries the company and its advisors are ignoring shareholders' wishes, the source said. It is considering nominating at least four directors because of the board's size, the person said.


Reuters
22-05-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Exclusive: Impactive Capital may run proxy fight at WEX, seeking 4 of 11 directors, source says
NEW YORK, May 22 (Reuters) - Activist investor Impactive Capital is gearing up for a boardroom fight at financial technology company WEX Inc (WEX.N), opens new tab, and may nominate at least four directors at next year's annual meeting, according to a person familiar with the matter and a document seen by Reuters. The share price of WEX has slid 30% in the last 52 weeks. Impactive, which owns roughly 7% of the company and has been a shareholder for four years, is ratcheting up pressure on the payments company only days after its May 15 annual meeting. WEX, whose services include payment processing and information management for vehicle fleets, employee benefits, business payments, and travel payments, has a market value of roughly $4.5 billion. Frustration has been simmering for years as Impactive privately pressed WEX to simplify its business and create greater alignment between the company and its shareholders but feels its requests have been dismissed, the source said. The source was not permitted to discuss the hedge fund's private plans. Specifically Impactive has urged WEX to consider spinning off its benefits segment and has suggested adding a investor to the 11-member board of directors. Late last year, Impactive asked to join the board but has so far not been invited on, the person said. A representative for the company was not immediately available for comment. Despite its strong market positioning, attractive assets and competitive advantages, WEX has underperformed and lagged behind peers, including Corpay (CPAY.N), opens new tab, Impactive said earlier this month in a public letter to shareholders. In an effort to exert pressure, Impactive said on May 2 that it would vote against three directors, including the company's chair, Melissa Smith, and lead director, Jack VanWoerkom, at the May 15 meeting. While all three were re-elected, shareholders' significant votes "against" the directors signal concern. Impactive has only run one proxy fight during its seven-year lifetime and said publicly at conferences that it prefers to engage with companies and management privately to fix problems. Two years ago Impactive settled a proxy fight with Envestnet when the financial technology company added three new directors, including Impactive co-founder Lauren Taylor Wolfe. But Impactive is eyeing a potential second board challenge by taking on WEX because it worries the company and its advisors are ignoring shareholders' wishes, the source said. It is considering nominating at least four directors because of the board's size, the person said.