Redwire Corp.’s stock dropped March 11 after reporting fourth-quarter revenue below analysts’ forecasts.
However, the Jacksonville-based space technology company painted an optimistic outlook for 2025 and at least one analyst agrees.
“4Q24 results just ok, but ’25 guide and longer term outlook worth getting exciting about,” H.C. Wainwright analyst Scott Buck said in a research note.
Redwire’s fourth-quarter revenue rose 9.6% to $69.6 million, below the consensus analysts’ forecast of about $75 million.
But for all of 2024, revenue rose 24.7% to $304.1 million.
Helped by a pending acquisition, Redwire is projecting revenue to reach $535 million to $605 million this year.
In Redwire’s conference call with analysts, CEO Peter Cannito said the company successfully executed its growth strategy in 2024.
“Redwire executed on programs for more than 100 customers, with greater than 85% of revenues coming from our many government and marquee customers around the world, showcasing our strong revenue diversity,” he said.
“In addition, Redwire announced the launch of more than 70 products and solutions on 15 launches during the year, and that doesn’t include product launches that did not get announced due to customer confidentiality.”
Redwire also contributed to two recent high-profile space missions.
“Two lunar landers with Redwire cameras onboard headed to the moon: Firefly’s Blue Ghost, which landed on the lunar surface on March 2nd, 2025, and Intuitive Machine’s IM-2, which landed on the lunar surface on March 6th, 2025,” Cannito said.
Cannito said Redwire submitted $4.1 billion in bids for other projects in 2024, although he couldn’t predict how many of those proposals will be accepted.
“However, we now have a pipeline of bids that could result in a substantial increase in backlog if we land some of these larger opportunities,” he said.
Redwire’s growth this year includes a $925 million deal announced in January to acquire Edge Autonomy, which broadens the company’s business into uncrewed airborne systems.
Redwire’s stock had been soaring in recent months because of that acquisition and the election of President Donald Trump, who is expected to expand U.S. space programs.
But the stock fell as much as $1.82 to $9.44 March 11 after the yearend report.
Buck thinks investors should be looking ahead positively about Redwire. He maintained a “buy” rating with a $26 price target for the stock.
“While we recognize some disappointment in 4Q24 results, it’s a mistake to be too backward looking as the company has positioned, through recent M&A, to be a leading player in both space and defense going forward,” he said.
“However, we believe most investors are forward looking and should come away optimistic, based on the company’s projections,” Buck said.
Cadre Holdings Inc. reported growth in revenue last year, due to acquisitions and demand for its armor, duty gear products and hard goods.
The Jacksonville-based company, which markets its products largely to law enforcement and first responder entities, expects strong demand for its products to continue.
“Longer term, we see our overarching thesis holding true that priorities will continue to shift towards public safety spending and ensuring those who protect and serve are equipped with the safest and most reliable products,” CEO Warren Kanders said in a March 12 conference call.
Cadre reported fourth-quarter revenue rose 41% to $176 million and earnings rose 35% to $13 million, or 32 cents a share.
For all of 2024, revenue rose 18% to $567.6 million but earnings fell 6% to $36.1 million, or 90 cents a share.
Cadre said higher expenses, including acquisition-related costs, caused earnings to fall.
The company is projecting 2025 revenue of $572 million to $601 million.
Community First Credit Union reported lower 2024 earnings, due mainly to an increase in loan loss reserves.
The Jacksonville-based credit union, with has 23 offices and $2.75 billion in assets, reported earnings fell 75% to $6.9 million, after its provision for loan losses increased from $14.8 million in 2023 to $38.6 million in 2024.
“Although we had a strong year, like all credit unions, we faced some economic challenges, including the need to increase our loan loss reserves,” President and CEO Sam Inman said in the president’s report in Community First’s annual report.
“Fortunately, our financial strength allowed us to do this without affecting our plans or our lending. While it lowered our return on assets, it sets us up for a strong 2025 and beyond,” said Inman, who became CEO Aug. 31.
Community First increased membership by almost 6,000 in 2024 to 178,430.
Ponte Vedra Beach-based Cadrenal Therapeutics Inc. reported a net loss of $10.7 million for 2024 as it continued development of its anticoagulation drug called tecarfarin.
“Throughout 2025, our primary focus is on execution, as we move forward to assessing the efficacy and safety of tecarfarin in patients with left ventricular assist devices and consider other important areas of unmet need that a more reliable vitamin K antagonist could address,” CEO Quang Pham said in a March 13 news release.
Cadrenal said it raised $9.8 million in financing transactions in 2024 and had $10 million in cash and cash equivalents as of Dec. 31.
After Rayonier Inc. announced a deal March 10 to sell its interests in New Zealand timber for $710 million, Raymond James analyst Buck Horne upgraded his rating on the timber and real estate development company from “market perform” to “outperform.”
“Rayonier will soon be positioned as an entirely U.S.-based timber REIT with a nearly net debt-free balance sheet and over 2 million acres of high quality timberland,” Horne said in a research note.
“After a year-long strategic review process, we believe this result laudably positions Rayonier with ample capacity to redeploy capital into new opportunistic acquisitions, additional share repurchases, as well as a forthcoming special dividend to investors later this year,” he said.
Rayonier, headquartered in Wildlight in Nassau County, announced the strategic review in November 2023 and said it was considering selling off about $1 billion in assets, but the New Zealand sale brought the total to $1.45 billion.
Through a joint venture, it had controlled 412,100 acres of New Zealand timberland.
The sale leaves it with about 1.75 million acres of timber in the southern U.S. and 308,000 in the Northwest.
With its timber business now focused solely on the U.S., Horne said Rayonier could benefit from the U.S.-Canada tariff dispute.
“While Rayonier is not a direct lumber manufacturer itself, resurgent lumber prices could also meaningfully increase U.S. South sawmill utilization rates and unlock previously stagnant southern yellow pine sawlog prices that are still 25-30% below prior 2022 peaks,” he said.
Truist Securities analyst Lucas Servera initiated coverage of Jacksonville-based trucking company Landstar System Inc. with a “hold” rating, saying he likes the company long term but does not see big price gains in the near term.
“Leveraging its unique business model that combines a network of exclusive Business Capacity Owners (BCOs) with independent agents, Landstar offers the benefits of an asset-light structure while maintaining operational capabilities akin to asset-based carriers. This approach allows the company to minimize capital expenditure, reduce operating costs, and deliver consisted margins even during challenging freight cycles,” Servera said in his March 12 report.
“At the same time, Landstar’s business is deeply tied to industrial end markets as well as the Truckload (TL) Spot Market - with 90%-95% of its revenue stemming from the spot market. We believe Landstar is well positioned to benefit from improving spot rates as the freight market enters a recovery phase over the quarters to come,” he said.
“That said, given current valuation levels we believe that the positives to the name are already priced in. “
Servera set a $160 price target for the stock which was trading at $152.12 at the time of his report.
Deutsche Bank analyst Richa Harnain initiated coverage of CSX Corp. with a hold rating, forecasting “a year of speedbumps” for the Jacksonville-based railroad company.
“CSX management has done a solid job improving returns over the past few years,” Harnain said in a March 7 report.
“However, CSX faces several cost challenges and investment requirements in 2025, which we believe will restrict its ability to achieve attractive EPS growth,” she said.
Harnain set a price target of $34 for CSX, with the stock trading at $31.20 at the time of her report.
Truist Securities analyst Richard Newitter mantained a “hold” rating on Ponte Vedra-based Treace Medical Concepts Inc. after hosting discussions with CEO John Treace and Chief Financial Officer Mark Hair.
Treace’s main product is a surgical procedure called Lapiplasty to treat bunions and it is seeking to expand its market share of the bunion treatment market with new products.
“Treace is seeing competitive dynamics in Lapiplasty stabilize following headwinds from competitor trialing last year,” Newitter said in his March 12 report.
“Management noted that it has seen surgeons who had trialed competitive products last summer/fall returning to Lapiplasty,” he said.
“Management also sees overall bunion market in a more ‘back to normal mode’ following some (seemingly) transient foot and ankle market weakness in 2Q-3Q last year.”
Newitter said he is staying at hold “pending greater confidence new rollouts can sustain double-digit growth beyond easy 2025 comps within an increasingly competitive bunion segment.”