Us companies face a number of challenges to overcome in the second half of 2022, including higher interest rates, a greater consumer focus on budgets and a depressed stock market, Zhitong Financial APP has learned. This puts some American companies in a very difficult position and makes the following five companies usher in a year of success or failure in 2023.

Carnival cruise ship

$Carnival (CCL.US)$Entering 2020 at full speed, the previous year set a new record in terms of sales and profits. But three years after the outbreak, the company's development has taken a sharp turn for the worse.

Like other ship operators, the cruise giant was suspended for more than a year because of the COVID-19 epidemic. Over the past three years, the company has issued new shares and borrowed heavily, tripling its long-term debt to $32 billion. Rising interest rates make it harder to repay.

Meanwhile, the fleet of Carnival cruise ships has shrunk by 11 per cent as older and less fuel-efficient ships are sold or decommissioned. Although the newly added vessels are larger, their passenger ship capacity remains roughly the same. But the challenge for Josh Weinstein, the new chief executive who took over in August, is to fill demand at a price that will return the company to profitability. After the weak European economy and the outbreak of COVID-19, this goal is difficult to achieve. While bookings are rising in North America and Australia, bookings in Europe and Asia for 2023 have lagged behind pre-epidemic levels, the company said last week.

In response, Weinstein hopes to attract people back to the cruise market through major advertising initiatives next year. He is working with every brand in the company to improve their position in the market. In a recent earnings call, he also compared the company's resumption of operations over the past 18 months to a start-up for "the world's largest start-up".

The share price of Carnival Cruises seems to be in more trouble than operating. The stock has fallen more than 80 per cent since December 2019, making it the worst performer of the big three cruise companies and recently hit a 30-year low. "in the final analysis, we think the market's expectations for the company are very low," said Benjamin Chaiken, an analyst at Credit Suisse.

Beyond Meat

$Beyond Meat (BYND.US)$Also had a hard time in 2022. Sales of artificial meat in grocery stores have continued to decline this year, and product testing with fast-food partners has not made any of Beyond Meat's products a permanent menu item in the United States.

Two separate rounds of layoffs resulted in more than 20% of employees being laid off, and about 240 jobs. The company has also experienced a series of scandals, including the arrest of its chief operating officer on suspicion of road anger after a football match and an incident related to listeria contamination and other safety problems at a factory in Pennsylvania. The chief operating officer, financial director, supply chain director and chief executive have all left in recent months.

While Beyond Meat says it will eventually achieve positive cash flow by the second half of 2023, analysts are skeptical that this goal will be difficult to achieve until sales are stable. The company's quarterly expenses fell, but at the end of the third quarter, the company had only $390 million in cash on hand and more than $1 billion in debt.

In addition, CEO Ethan Brown insists that vegetable meat will eventually replace real meat. But investors are far from convinced: the stock is down about 95 per cent from its 2019 peak, with short positions accounting for about 40 per cent of tradable shares. If there is no major turnaround, how long the company can survive may be a question.

Carvana

For debt-ridden online used car retailers$Carvana (CVNA.US)$Next March is likely to be a time for the company to expose its problems.

Because this is the interest payment time for Carvana's bonds maturing in 2029. If the company makes the payment, it may indicate that the company has a plan to restructure its debt with its creditors and continue to operate. But Joel Levington, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence, said that if the company was not paid, then the bankruptcy "must be clearly seen as a possible outcome".

At present, Carvana is caught in a dilemma. At a time of high demand and soaring car prices at the beginning of the year, the company bought inventory of used cars and relied on credit agreements and stock issues to raise cash. But then, as carmakers stopped short of semiconductors and increased production of new cars, used-car prices plummeted. At the same time, the once-hot used-car market fell further as inflation and rising interest rates reduced the purchasing power of low-income consumers.

Prices of used cars have fallen 14% in the past 12 months, according to Manheim, the largest wholesale car auction house in the United States. Cox Automotive, the owner of Manheim, expects used car sales and prices to fall further by 2023. After KMX.US, its larger rival, reported results well below expectations last week, Levington said Carvana could face a "devastating setback to its restructuring plan".

At present, the company's largest creditors have agreed to work together to reach an agreement with management to refinance its debt. But Carvana's bonds trade at less than 50% of face value, suggesting the possibility of default is high.

Verve Therapeutics

For biotech companies that are developing a gene editing treatment for heart disease$Verve Therapeutics (VERV.US)$In terms of, next year is also crucial.

Verve wanted to edit human DNA to reduce the risk of heart attack, an idea that attracted investors when the company went public in mid-2021. The program first focuses on 31 million people with hereditary high cholesterol around the world, and then extends it to the wider population. But the road to regulation has proved much more difficult than previously thought.

In November, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stopped research on the company's main drugs to learn more about efficacy, unexpected changes in DNA, and the risk that these changes could be passed on to future generations. While Verve tries to explain these problems and hopes to get events back on track, the stock continues to fall amid growing uncertainty.

Currently, clinical trials are still being conducted overseas, and Verve plans to share data on these trials next year. This should give investors a better understanding of the efficacy and safety of the drug. But even if everything looks good, it will take years for Verve to prove the future of the drug and make sure investors are interested enough in it. The company says it has enough cash to last until 2025.

Electric vehicle startups

Electric vehicle startups raised more than $10 billion in 2020 and 2021 through mergers with special purpose acquisitions (SPAC).

Despite the influx of money, many of these companies encountered a difficult reality in 2022 about how much it would cost to build a car successfully, which made it impossible for many companies to maintain operations. Rising interest rates and less friendly capital markets have made it harder for these companies. In June this year$Electric Last Mile Solutions (ELMSQ.US)$Chapter 7 liquidated assets through bankruptcy proceedings, becoming the first electric car start-up to fail. Earlier this month, Niutron, a Chinese start-up, joined the bankruptcy camp because it was unable to deliver its vehicles.

It seems increasingly likely that this trend will continue.$Canoo (GOEV.US)$和$Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. (FFIE.US)$A warning has been issued about its cash balance. Even if it has a major shareholder in Saudi Arabia.$Lucid Group (LCID.US)$Companies with more capital, such as those, have also lowered their production targets because of supply chain and production obstacles.

Due to the scarcity of funding options, some electric car startups may use integration as a means of survival. Just like$Tesla (TSLA.US)$As Mr Musk, chief executive, pointed out earlier this year, starting a car company is "very painful".