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C.H. Robinson has a tough road ahead in 2023, according to JPMorgan. Analyst Brian Ossenbeck downgraded the stock to underweight from neutral. The analyst named rail congestion fees, truckload rate cycles and coal volumes as headwinds for the company in 2023 despite an improving industry outlook. “C.H. Robinson’s primary North American Surface Transportation segment remains significantly exposed to the spread between contract and spot truckload rates as well as the timing of contract negotiations and overall freight market demand,” the analyst said in a Friday note. The downgrade came after C.H. Robinson reported its latest quarterly results earlier this month. Both the company’s earnings and revenue came in well below expectations. The analyst noted that C.H. Robinson is more exposed to broader industry and macro risks than some of its competitors, notably RXO. “RXO was able to grow brokerage volume by 4% YoY during 4Q22 and expects to show growth again in 1Q23 on a YoY basis while Robinson’s truckload volume growth has underperformed its typical Cass Freight benchmark during the last two quarters,” the analyst said. The stock has jumped 13.3% in 2023 after falling more than 14% last year. However, JPMorgan thinks that there are still significant downside risks to the stock despite its recent gains. Ossenbeck reiterated his price target of $87, which implies a 16.1% downside from the stock’s closing price on Thursday. “There wasn’t much to write home about after the 4Q22 earnings call after management signaled the current strategy would stay the course and not put the Global Forwarding business up for sale any time soon even after the former CEO (who opposed the sale) was fired at the beginning of 2023,” said Ossenbeck. —CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
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