Despite the upsets, it has been a very successful year for Israeli companies listed in New York, particularly for the ten largest ones. At the end of 2023, they are worth over $130 billion, almost 30% more than their aggregate value at the end of 2022, an additional $28 billion. The stocks of most of these companies boast double-digit returns for this year, and some have outperformed the S&P 500 Index, which has risen by 23.8%, and the Nasdaq Composite Index, which has risen by 43.2%.
Unsurprisingly, all the companies in the list bar one (Teva) belong to the technology sector. Contrary to most forecasts, 2023 was a very good year for the Nasdaq Composite Index and for the technology companies traded on the Nasdaq exchange, including the Israeli ones.
Among the ten companies with the highest market caps, SentinelOne (NYSE: S) has the best return. The share price of the cybersecurity company co-founded and run by Tomer Weingarten has climbed 89% this year, and the company has added $4 billion to its market cap. The rise mainly came in the past month, following good quarterly financials and upgraded guidance. Nevertheless, the company’s market cap has still not returned to the valuation at which it was floated in 2021, and, at $8.1 billion, is a long way below the $20 billion peak it reached shortly after the flotation.
The Israeli company with the highest market cap on Wall Street is autotech company Mobileye Global (Nasdaq: MBLY), at $34.6 billion. The company, which is headed by founder Prof. Amnon Shashua, was floated (for the second time) on Nasdaq in October 2022 at a valuation of $16.7 billion. Some were disappointed by the offering price, as it wasn’t far from the price at which Mobileye had been sold to Intel five years earlier – $15.3 billion. Within a short time, however, the share price started to rise sharply, and Mobileye’s flotation became one of the most successful of 2022.
The share price continued to climb in 2023, giving a return of 23%. The controlling shareholder in the company, Intel, took advantage of the rise in the share price to sell part of its holding in Mobileye at $42 per share, double the offering price (the current price is $43). Intel still holds 88.3% of Mobileye, a stake worth $31 billion.
Gil Shwed gains $760 million
Three of the ten largest Israeli companies on Wall Street deal in cybersecurity: Check Point (Nasdaq: CHKP); Cyberark (Nasdaq: CYBR); and SentinelOne. The largest and oldest is Check Point, which is currently traded at an all-time high, and has a market cap of $17.8 billion.
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The rise in Check Point’s share price took it above the average price target of the analysts, which according to the Wall Street Journal is $147, with an average rating of “Outperform”. Check Point closed on December 22 at $152.25.
The big gainer on paper from Check Point’s rise is co-founder and CEO Gil Shwed, who, at the time of the last filing, at the beginning of the year, held 23.6% of the company. That stake is currently worth $4.4 billion, $760 million more than a year ago.
Elbit benefits from momentum in defense
Another prominent name among the ten largest companies is that of defense company Elbit Systems (Nasdaq: ESLT). The wars in Ukraine and now in the Gaza Strip have boosted its share price by 33%, as defense budgets around the world expand. The controlling shareholder in Elbit Systems is Michael Federmann, who owns 44.1% of the shares. The value of his holding has grown by over $1 billion this year, to $4.2 billion.
The first that are now last
The only company among the big ten with a negative return this year is Amdocs (Nasdaq: DOX), which last year was at the top of the table with a return of 20%. The share price of the company, which deals in software systems for telecommunications companies, is down 1.9% this year.
Several other large Israeli companies have been battered on Wall Street this year. SolarEdge (Nasdaq: SEDG) and ICL Group (NYSE: ICL) (formerly Israel Chemicals), for example. have dropped out of the top ten by market cap, after falls of 66% and 26% in their share prices.
2023 returns of top ten Israeli companies traded in New York
(to December 22, 2023).
SentinelOne – 89%
CyberArk – 68%
Wix – 60%
Monday.com – 55%
Nasdaq Composite Index – 44.3%
Elbit Systems – 33%
Mobileye – 23%
Check Point – 21%
Teva – 15%
Nice Systems – 4%
Amdocs – -2%
Published by Globes, Israel business news – en.globes.co.il – on December 26, 2023.
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd., 2023.
