01:10 PM EDT, 04/26/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

We keep our 12-month target at $34, which assumes IP will trade at an EV/EBITDA of 7.5x our 2024 EBITDA estimate, a small premium to IP's three-year avg. forward EV/EBITDA 7.3x. We decrease our 2024 EPS estimate by $0.34 to $1.94 and trim our 2025 EPS forecast by $0.18 to $2.68. IP posted Q1 adj. EPS of $0.17 vs. $0.53, $0.05 below consensus; Q1 revenue decreased 8% Y/Y, but beat consensus by 3%. In the Industrial Packaging segment, sales declined 6.7% Y/Y and operating earnings declined 33% Y/Y. Global Cellulose Fibers sales fell 15% Y/Y and the segment operating loss of $47 million was $31 million below the $16 million loss in Q1 2023. Separately, IP announced a merger with DS Smith for $9.9 billion, which will result in pro-forma ownership of 66.3% for IP shareholders and 33.7% for DS Smith shareholders. We think IP should be able to achieve its stated synergy target of around $514 million by the end of Q4, which would drive EPS accretion during the first full year following the close of the transaction.