Category: 3. Business

  • A Look at monday.com (MNDY) Valuation Following Strong Q1 Revenue and Upbeat Guidance

    A Look at monday.com (MNDY) Valuation Following Strong Q1 Revenue and Upbeat Guidance

    monday.com (MNDY) just released its latest earnings, showcasing revenue growth of 27% and outpacing expectations on important financial measures. Management sounded upbeat about scaling efficiently and maintaining momentum.

    See our latest analysis for monday.com.

    Despite these upbeat results, momentum has been hard to hold onto. monday.com’s share price delivered a 1-day gain of 4.7%, but is still down 17.9% year-to-date. Over the past year, the total shareholder return sits at a steep -41.5%, reflecting a sharp pullback from recent highs. Long-term holders are still up nearly 100% over three years. The stock’s recent moves signal investors are weighing short-term uncertainty against the company’s longer-term growth story.

    If you want to discover more tech names with breakout potential and innovative business models, now’s your chance to check out See the full list for free.

    With shares trading well below analyst targets despite robust financials and upbeat management commentary, investors are left to wonder: is monday.com undervalued at current levels, or is the market already factoring in future growth?

    monday.com’s fair value, according to the most widely followed narrative, lands significantly above its latest close. This outlook sees major catalysts on the horizon, setting up an intriguing argument for upside if the story unfolds as projected.

    Ongoing global shift toward digital transformation, remote/hybrid work, and rising SaaS adoption continues fueling strong demand for cloud-based productivity and collaboration platforms like monday.com, supporting high double-digit revenue growth and future ARR expansion.

    Read the complete narrative.

    Want to unravel what powers this lofty target? There is a bold recipe driving these numbers: think rapid expansion and a turnaround in profit margins. The secret is in how recurring revenue and margin improvement factor into the forecast. What assumptions does the narrative make about the speed and scale of future growth? See the key numbers and logic for yourself.

    Result: Fair Value of $266.33 (UNDERVALUED)

    Have a read of the narrative in full and understand what’s behind the forecasts.

    However, accelerating competition and slower customer additions could challenge monday.com’s ability to maintain its projected high growth and margin improvements in the future.

    Find out about the key risks to this monday.com narrative.

    Looking at price-to-sales, monday.com trades at 8.9x, which is noticeably steeper than the US Software sector average of 4.8x and its peer group at 8.5x. While the company’s growth prospects could justify a premium, the current multiple stands below the fair ratio of 11.9x. This may imply room for the stock to re-rate if market sentiment turns more positive. However, these multiples could also signal vulnerability if growth expectations fall short.

    See what the numbers say about this price — find out in our valuation breakdown.

    NasdaqGS:MNDY PS Ratio as at Nov 2025

    If you want to take a different angle or dig deeper into the numbers yourself, building your own story is quick and straightforward, often taking just a few minutes. Do it your way

    A good starting point is our analysis highlighting 3 key rewards investors are optimistic about regarding monday.com.

    No serious investor limits their search to just one opportunity. Step up your strategy by checking out hand-picked stock ideas built around powerful trends.

    This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

    Companies discussed in this article include MNDY.

    Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com

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  • Evaluating Somnigroup International (SGI) Shares After Recent Gains and Near-Record Valuation

    Evaluating Somnigroup International (SGI) Shares After Recent Gains and Near-Record Valuation

    Somnigroup International (SGI) has been attracting attention as its shares climbed 3% today, continuing strong gains from the past month. Investors are watching closely as ongoing shifts occur in the consumer durables space.

    See our latest analysis for Somnigroup International.

    After a year of strong momentum, Somnigroup International’s 1-year total shareholder return now stands at 69.2%, with a share price last closing at $91.25. That is on top of an impressive 308% total return over the past five years. With recent buying pressure and upbeat sentiment in consumer durables, it appears that investors are increasingly pricing in growth potential and improved fundamentals for SGI.

    If you’re looking to spot other fast-moving opportunities, this could be the moment to branch out and discover fast growing stocks with high insider ownership

    Yet with shares near record highs and analyst targets not far ahead, the big question for investors is whether Somnigroup remains undervalued or if the stock’s recent jump simply reflects confidence in future growth prospects.

    Somnigroup International’s most followed narrative places fair value at $88.38 per share, just below the recent closing price of $91.25. This narrow gap places the spotlight on ambitious long-term growth assumptions that drive the valuation debate.

    The integration of Mattress Firm is already generating meaningful sales and cost synergies, with $100 million in annual net cost synergies projected and sales synergies ahead of schedule. These operational improvements are set to expand EBITDA and enhance net margins moving into 2026 and beyond.

    Read the complete narrative.

    Curious what powers this bullish price target? One component of the narrative combines a bold leap in profit margins with aggressive revenue expansion and a future valuation multiple that most companies in the sector can only dream about. Want to see what all these fast-moving financial assumptions add up to? The answers might surprise you.

    Result: Fair Value of $88.38 (OVERVALUED)

    Have a read of the narrative in full and understand what’s behind the forecasts.

    However, persistent input cost pressures and shifting consumer preferences could challenge Somnigroup International’s projected growth and margin improvement. This may keep the outlook uncertain.

    Find out about the key risks to this Somnigroup International narrative.

    If you think there is more to the story, or prefer drawing your own conclusions from the data, it only takes a few minutes to create your own perspective with Do it your way

    A great starting point for your Somnigroup International research is our analysis highlighting 1 key reward and 4 important warning signs that could impact your investment decision.

    Your next game-changing investment could be waiting just beyond Somnigroup. Don’t let a promising trend pass you by. There is a whole world of winning stocks to choose from, primed for bold investors ready to take action.

    This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

    Companies discussed in this article include SGI.

    Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com

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  • Major retailers promise a cheaper Thanksgiving, but there's a twist – Reuters

    1. Major retailers promise a cheaper Thanksgiving, but there’s a twist  Reuters
    2. Target hopes to stop alarming customer behavior with bold offer  TheStreet
    3. Thanksgiving deals to be thankful for — the best Thanksgiving dinner deals  ConsumerAffairs
    4. Thanksgiving on a Budget: Delicious Walmart, Aldi & Lidl Finds Under $15  Yahoo
    5. Stop & Shop offers Thanksgiving dinner deal under $40 for 10 people  bluebookservices.com

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  • EU claims agreement with China to unblock Nexperia chip flow

    EU claims agreement with China to unblock Nexperia chip flow

    The European Commission claimed on Saturday that it has reached an agreement with China’s commerce ministry to restart the flow of semiconductors that had been disrupted by a crisis surrounding the company Nexperia.

    EU trade chief Maros Sefcovic said on social media that, effective immediately, exports of the company’s chips to the bloc for non-military uses will not be subject to Chinese licensing requirements.

    “My team and I have been in constant contact with the Chinese authorities, and welcome the confirmation provided today to the European Commission by Mofcom regarding the further simplification of export procedures for next-period chips destined for EU and global clients,” Sefcovic said.

    “Mofcom will grant exemptions from licensing requirements to any exporter, provided that it is declared that the goods are intended for civilian use,” he added.

    “Close engagement with both the Chinese and Dutch authorities continues as we work towards a lasting, stable, predictable framework that ensures the full restoration of semiconductor flows.”

    Dutch-headquartered Nexperia was cut off from its Chinese processing facilities following a dispute between The Hague and Beijing, threatening to throw Europe’s automotive industry into disarray.

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  • VESALIUS-CV: Evolocumab vs. Placebo in Patients Without Previous MI or Stroke

    VESALIUS-CV: Evolocumab vs. Placebo in Patients Without Previous MI or Stroke

    Compared with placebo, PCSK9 inhibition with evolocumab reduced the risk of first cardiovascular events among patients with atherosclerosis or diabetes and without a previous myocardial infarction or stroke, based on findings from the VESALIUS-CV trial presented at AHA 2025 and simultaneously published in NEJM.

    Researchers randomly assigned 12,257 patients to receive either evolocumab (140mg every two weeks; n=6,129) or placebo (n=6,128). All participants had an LDL-C level of at least 90 mg per deciliter, 43% were women, 93% were white and the median age was 66 years. The two primary end points were a composite of death from coronary heart disease, myocardial infarction or ischemic stroke (3-point MACE) and a composite of 3-point MACE or ischemia-driven arterial revascularization (4-point MACE).

    Overall results showed evolocumab reduced the risk of coronary heart disease death, heart attack or ischemic stroke by 25%. Participants in the evolocumab group also experienced a 19% reduction in the risk of death, heart attack, ischemic stroke or arterial revascularization over a median follow-up period of 4.5 years.

    According to researchers, the dual primary endpoints were consistent across key subgroups, including in participants with high-risk diabetes without qualifying ASCVD, who represented roughly one-third of the total study population. In a substudy evaluating LDL-C levels over time, LDL-C was lowered by nearly 55% in the evolocumab group at 48 weeks, resulting in a median LDL-C level of 45 mg/dL compared with 115 mg/dL at enrollment. In contrast, LDL-C levels remained elevated among those in the placebo group, at a median of 109 mg/dL.

    “The results from the VESALIUS-CV trial represent the first demonstration of improved cardiovascular outcomes with a PCSK9 inhibitor, or any nonstatin for that matter, in patients without a previous heart attack or stroke who are already being treated with a high-intensity lipid-lowering regimen ,” said Erin Ann Bohula, MD, DPhil, FACC, who presented the findings.

    The study had several limitations to note, including that a small group of patients (8%) were not being treated with any cholesterol-lowering treatment at the beginning of the study. In addition, the majority of study participants were White. Further studies that include participants of various racial and ethnic backgrounds are needed to confirm if these findings apply across diverse populations, said Bohula.

    In a related editorial comment published in NEJM, Chiadi E. Ndumele, MD, PhD, and Roger S. Blumenthal, MD, FACC, say the findings “represent an important step forward in clinical knowledge.” They write: “Although PCSK9 inhibitors had been shown to reduce the risk of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease events among patients with previous myocardial infarction or stroke, this new trial has shown their clinical benefit in patients without previous myocardial infarction or stroke. With a longer follow up than earlier PCSK9 inhibitor trials … numerically fewer deaths were observed in the evolocumab group than in the placebo group. Although this result was not significant owing to the hierarchical testing approach, it is likely to reflect a true signal.”


    Clinical Topics:
    Diabetes and Cardiometabolic Disease, Dyslipidemia, Prevention


    Keywords:
    AHA Annual Scientific Sessions, AHA25, Dyslipidemias, Secondary Prevention

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  • How Investors Are Reacting To NetScout Systems (NTCT) Surpassing Estimates and Raising Full-Year Guidance

    How Investors Are Reacting To NetScout Systems (NTCT) Surpassing Estimates and Raising Full-Year Guidance

    • NetScout Systems reported second-quarter earnings that surpassed analyst expectations, with revenue reaching US$219.02 million and net income climbing to US$25.83 million, while also raising full-year guidance for both revenue and earnings per share.

    • This performance marked a reversal from a net loss in the prior year and highlighted operational momentum across both service and product segments.

    • We’ll look at how NetScout’s raised full-year guidance and strong earnings result shape its evolving investment narrative.

    We’ve found 16 US stocks that are forecast to pay a dividend yield of over 6% next year. See the full list for free.

    To be a shareholder in NetScout Systems, you need to believe in its ongoing ability to grow revenue by delivering reliable service assurance and cybersecurity solutions for enterprises amid rising network and threat complexity. The recent earnings beat and raised full-year guidance reinforce near-term optimism, but do not fundamentally shift the most relevant short-term catalyst: accelerating enterprise demand for cybersecurity products. The largest risk, rapid migration to cloud-native architectures and product consolidation, remains material and unchanged by these results. Among recent announcements, NetScout’s October launch of the Omnis KlearSight Sensor for Kubernetes directly addresses evolving customer needs in cloud environments, closely linked to the company’s ambitions around AI-driven innovation, a key catalyst underpinning expectations of expanded market opportunity and high-value contracts. Yet, while results looked strong, investors should watch for signs the risk from cloud migration and changing IT standards could test the resilience of NetScout’s core business…

    Read the full narrative on NetScout Systems (it’s free!)

    NetScout Systems is projected to reach $905.7 million in revenue and $49.6 million in earnings by 2028. This outlook assumes a 2.8% annual revenue growth rate, but reflects a decrease in earnings of $23.2 million from the current $72.8 million.

    Uncover how NetScout Systems’ forecasts yield a $30.42 fair value, a 6% upside to its current price.

    NTCT Earnings & Revenue Growth as at Nov 2025

    Two Simply Wall St Community members provided fair value estimates for NetScout, spanning from US$30.42 to US$52.91 per share. With accelerating cybersecurity demand cited as a core growth driver, you can review a range of independent views reflecting different assumptions about how well NetScout can seize this opportunity.

    Explore 2 other fair value estimates on NetScout Systems – why the stock might be worth as much as 84% more than the current price!

    Disagree with existing narratives? Create your own in under 3 minutes – extraordinary investment returns rarely come from following the herd.

    • A great starting point for your NetScout Systems research is our analysis highlighting 2 key rewards that could impact your investment decision.

    • Our free NetScout Systems research report provides a comprehensive fundamental analysis summarized in a single visual – the Snowflake – making it easy to evaluate NetScout Systems’ overall financial health at a glance.

    Our daily scans reveal stocks with breakout potential. Don’t miss this chance:

    This article by Simply Wall St is general in nature. We provide commentary based on historical data and analyst forecasts only using an unbiased methodology and our articles are not intended to be financial advice. It does not constitute a recommendation to buy or sell any stock, and does not take account of your objectives, or your financial situation. We aim to bring you long-term focused analysis driven by fundamental data. Note that our analysis may not factor in the latest price-sensitive company announcements or qualitative material. Simply Wall St has no position in any stocks mentioned.

    Companies discussed in this article include NTCT.

    Have feedback on this article? Concerned about the content? Get in touch with us directly. Alternatively, email editorial-team@simplywallst.com

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  • How Recent Developments Are Reshaping the Occidental Petroleum Investment Story

    How Recent Developments Are Reshaping the Occidental Petroleum Investment Story

    Occidental Petroleum stock has drawn renewed analyst attention as projections for the company’s fair value per share edged down slightly from $50.48 to $49.91. This adjustment comes at the same time as a decrease in the discount rate, from 7.56% to 7.25%, signaling shifting market sentiment following the OxyChem divestiture and rebalancing of the company’s portfolio. Stay tuned for more on how investors can navigate and stay informed about the evolving narrative around Occidental’s prospects.

    Analyst Price Targets don’t always capture the full story. Head over to our Company Report to find new ways to value Occidental Petroleum.

    Recent analyst commentary on Occidental Petroleum presents a nuanced view of the company’s outlook, with a balance of cautious optimism and persistent reservations. Here is how leading research firms are interpreting Occidental’s current valuation, execution, and growth drivers.

    🐂 Bullish Takeaways

    • Several analysts, including Roth Capital and BofA, have modestly increased their price targets following the announced divestiture of OxyChem. They cite the substantial cash proceeds and accelerated debt reduction, which improve Occidental’s financial flexibility and position to meet near-term leverage targets.

    • Barclays highlighted that the planned unit sale could speed up Occidental’s balance sheet normalization and free resources for enhanced cash returns. This points to improving capital management amid shifting industry dynamics.

    • Scotiabank raised its price target and noted that while estimates remain above consensus, the updated outlook still points to room for improvement. This reflects a disciplined approach to capital efficiency and ongoing portfolio rebalancing.

    • Melius Research initiated coverage with a Hold rating and a higher price target, referencing Occidental’s exposure to the sector’s transformative shifts driven by technology and power demand growth.

    🐻 Bearish Takeaways

    • UBS and Piper Sandler both lowered their price targets, emphasizing that although the OxyChem sale aids debt reduction, it has been dilutive across key performance metrics. The remaining preferred equity could potentially constrain shareholder returns and make Occidental’s valuation less compelling relative to peers.

    • Some analysts, including Mizuho, flagged lingering valuation concerns and have kept Neutral ratings. They underlined that upside could already be priced in and highlighted near-term risks related to commodity price volatility and the pace of balance sheet repair.

    • Piper Sandler pointed out the secular uncertainties in oil and gas demand as well as potential headwinds from ongoing sector mergers and changing capital expenditure priorities.

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  • 34-year-old is saving for early retirement: ‘I value my freedom’

    34-year-old is saving for early retirement: ‘I value my freedom’

    In 2020, Anita Kinoshita, 28 years old at the time, started looking into buying a house.

    Kinoshita was living in California and making around $70,000 a year as a software engineer for the Department of Defense.

    As a first-generation American from a farming family in Mexico, Kinoshita believed the best way to finally achieve the American dream her family had for her was to own property.

    “I had my first big girl job and thought the next responsible thing to do would be to buy a house,” Kinoshita tells CNBC Make It. “I didn’t necessarily want to buy a house. In fact, I was trying to figure out how to finesse the purchase.”

    Initially, Kinoshita was seeking a property with the intent to sublet some of the bedrooms and lower her share of the expenses. She had about $20,000 saved for a down payment.

    “My vision for the future was to be able to have a family and spend as much time with them and not necessarily have an office job. [But] I still went forward with what made sense for this American Dream path,” she says.

    “I was 28 at the time, so I still kind of cared what my community defined as successful, and homeownership was part of that. At the time, I thought it was the responsible thing to do.”

    Kinoshita always believed achieving the American Dream meant owning property.

    Anita Kinoshita

    Kinoshita wanted to learn as much as she could about the home-buying journey she was embarking on. She enrolled in a nine-week course that teaches people how to manage their money, offered by Financial Peace University.

    During the retirement module of the online class, Kinoshita used a retirement calculator that helped her realize that if she started contributing a bit more to her 401(k), she could retire around age 55 and buy a house at the same time.

    “All of a sudden, the vision I had for the future and the freedom and lifestyle I wanted became possible in my mind for the first time,” she says.

    For two years, Kinoshita looked at least a dozen places and put in a total of four offers. She got accepted for one, but then the sellers backed out. She was also approved for a single-family home, but there was a mismatch in the appraisal, so she walked away from the deal.

    “I ended up backing out because the only way to be competitive during that time was to invest less and save more for the down payment, and I wasn’t willing to do that,” she says.

    “Ultimately, I felt like it wasn’t the time for me at the moment, and I was not willing to invest less either. I wasn’t satisfied with my career and felt like I was living my dad’s dream and not really mine.”

    Kinoshita viewed a dozen properties and put in a total of four offers.

    Anita Kinoshita

    Redefining success

    Kinoshita switched her focus. Instead of saving for a down payment, she set a goal of having $500,000 invested in her retirement accounts. By April 2022, she had invested $200,000 and reached COAST FIRE — a strategy where you save and invest enough to eventually stop contributing to your retirement accounts and let the compound growth continue rising so you’re on track to have a traditional retirement. She decided to quit her job.

    Kinoshita isn’t alone in choosing to wait to buy a house. The median age of a first-time home buyer has gone up in recent years, from 35 in 2023 to 38 in 2024 alone, according to a report from the National Association of Realtors.

    After quitting her full-time job, Kinoshita started working part-time, creating curriculum for California State University, Monterey Bay and making financial literacy content online. Both of these positions made her more money than when she was working as a software engineer.

    Kinoshita, now 34, is going to wait until she reaches early COAST FIRE, which, when you have enough invested, lets you stop contributing by the age you decide, versus the traditional retirement age of 67.

    Kinoshita quit her job and is now making financial literacy content online.

    Anita Kinoshita

    Her projected retirement age is now 45, and she expects to have $1.5 million invested by then.

    “I value my time and freedom a little bit more than I value home ownership. In retrospect, I think if I had bought the house, I would have felt trapped in my career,” she says.

    Kinoshita and her husband recently moved to the California neighborhood where they would one day like to own a home. They pay $4,000 a month in rent and live in a single-family home in a gated community, according to documents reviewed by CNBC Make It.

    When the couple is ready to buy, she estimates they will have about $300,000 saved to put toward the home. But they still don’t know when they will start getting serious about buying.

    “I’m not in a rush. I don’t want to use it as a financial tool in any way. I’m looking at it more as a luxury and less as an asset these days,” she says. “I would rather have my money working for me in the stock market than in real estate.”

    Kinoshita and her husband are now renting in the neighborhood they hope to buy one day.

    Anita Kinoshita

    Kinoshita says her definition of a dream home has also changed.

    “I don’t want too many bedrooms. I think what I care more about these days is the charming architecture. I don’t want it to be overwhelming in terms of square footage. I want it to be in a really beautiful neighborhood where I feel safe. I want to look outside and see nature,” she says.

    “I don’t see a reason to settle for something else, so for us it’s a as long as it takes kind of thing.”

    Want to level up your AI skills? Sign up for Smarter by CNBC Make It’s new online course, How To Use AI To Communicate Better At Work. Get specific prompts to optimize emails, memos and presentations for tone, context and audience.

    Plus, sign up for CNBC Make It’s newsletter to get tips and tricks for success at work, with money and in life, and request to join our exclusive community on LinkedIn to connect with experts and peers.


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  • Cat Bond Holders Digest ‘Black Swan’ Event Triggered by Melissa

    Cat Bond Holders Digest ‘Black Swan’ Event Triggered by Melissa

    (Bloomberg) — A rare thing is about to happen in the $55 billion market for catastrophe bonds: a trigger event will wipe out 100% of a bond’s principal.

    Jamaica’s $150 million cat bond has been the subject of controversy since it failed to trigger last year after Hurricane Beryl destroyed large parts of the island. The development sparked calls for a fundamental rethink of the suitability of such financial instruments for developing countries on the frontlines of climate change.

    Investors in cat bonds are now hoping that the trigger event forced by Melissa — a massive category 5 hurricane — will finally put such doubts to rest.

    “It’s actually a good thing that this bond pays out,” Dirk Schmelzer, senior fund manager at Plenum Investments AG, a holder of Jamaica’s cat bond, said in an interview. “It shows how cat bond structures can help support countries get back on their feet again.”

    But skepticism toward the instruments persists.

    It took a “black swan” event to trigger the bond, says Jwala Rambarran, a former governor of the central bank of Trinidad and Tobago. “Melissa supersedes everything.”

    Rambarran is the co-author of a report by the Vulnerable Twenty Group, or V20 — a collection of nations most exposed to climate change — that last year called for an in-depth reappraisal of sovereign cat bonds. After Beryl, V20 warned that the bonds were becoming increasingly rigid in their structure, with narrow parameters that were shielding investors without helping poorer populations.

    Catastrophe bonds are used by issuers — mostly insurers but sometimes also governments — to transfer risk to capital markets. Bondholders risk losses if a predefined catastrophe occurs, but also face sizable returns if it doesn’t. Jamaica agreed to pay investors in its bond a floating rate of 7% above US money market rates.

    The last time a weather-related cat bond paid out in full was in connection with Hurricane Ian in 2022. The Swiss Re Global Cat Bond Index slipped about 2% that year, but has since delivered record gains. In the three years since Ian, the Swiss Re index has soared 60%.

    Jamaica has what is probably the most robust disaster-financing program of all Caribbean nations. In addition to the $150 million it will get from its cat bond, it can tap $300 million in contingent credit from the Inter-American Development Bank and draw a $92 million payout from a parametric insurance program.

    The insured costs of Hurricane Melissa’s damages to onshore property in Jamaica now range between $2.2 billion and $4.2 billion, according to data firm Verisk Analytics Inc. The actual cost, however, will be much higher with less than 20% of the Caribbean island’s residential properties insured, and a significant share lacking sufficient insurance, according to Verisk.

    The funds being made available to Jamaica via its cat bond and other instruments “will never be enough to do the restoration and even to do the relief work right now,” Dana Morris Dixon, minister of education, skills, youth and information, said in a briefing on Oct. 31.

    At the World Bank, which handled the issuance of Jamaica’s cat bond, Vice President and Treasurer Jorge Familiar said the island’s “comprehensive disaster risk management strategy and proactive approach serve as a model for countries facing similar threats and seeking to strengthen their financial resilience to natural disasters.”

    The payout “underscores the role of catastrophe bonds in effective risk management strategies and their efficiency in transferring disaster risks to capital markets,” he said.

    But Rambarran says that for highly destructive storms such as Beryl, the risk remains that cat bond triggers are “too hard and specific.” He says “we still need to continue to look at their design and strike a balance between providing a return and doing good.”

    Meanwhile, investors exposed to Jamaica’s cat bond are unlikely to suffer any meaningful hits to their portfolios, according to Mara Dobrescu, director of fixed income strategies at Morningstar.

    “No one had a huge amount” of Jamaica’s cat bond in their portfolio, she said. So investors will easily absorb any Melissa-related losses and continue to have “a stand-out year.”

    At Plenum, the expectation is that losses associated with its holding of the Jamaica bond will leave a dent of only 0.23% on one of its two cat bond funds, while the other will be untouched. The asset manager has no plans to scale back its interest in World Bank-backed issuances, Schmelzer said.

    “From an ESG perspective we have a lot of clients who like to see these transactions in the portfolio,” he said. “Losses are losses, but this is a better loss than other ones.”

    Major holders of Jamaica’s catastrophe bond include Stone Ridge Asset Management LLC of New York, UK-based Baillie Gifford & Co., and Schroders, according to data compiled by Morningstar.

    Stone Ridge didn’t respond to requests for comment. Spokespeople for Baillie Gifford and Schroders declined to comment.

    The extent to which vulnerable nations should rely on capital markets to help deal with extreme weather looks set to shape the COP30 talks in Brazil. Such questions also feed into the so-called Baku-to-Belem Roadmap (a reference to Conference of the Parties summits in 2024 and 2025), which seeks to mobilize $1.3 trillion annually for developing countries.

    A study published in 2024 found that three years after hurricanes hit in the Caribbean basin, debt levels were 18% higher than in a baseline scenario.

    In the case of Melissa, “the extent of the destruction is going to be so large that even with the level of pre-arranged financing that Jamaica has, there won’t be enough funds to meet the extent of the loss,” Rambarran said.

    Melissa’s impact on Jamaica “puts us in front of a bigger issue,” he said. “We need a global financial architecture that can support these countries in a deeper way.”

    –With assistance from Lauren Rosenthal, Brian Eckhouse and Alexandre Rajbhandari.

    ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.

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