Whether its shortages in labour, supply, raw materials or semiconductors, supply chain issues continue to cause significant headwinds for companies across many industry sectors. Analysis of GlobalData’s company filings database finds that the use of the word ‘shortage’ in company earnings announcements shot up by nearly 3X when comparing Q4 2020 and Q4 2021. However, during this period, overall sentiment moved in a positive direction between Q2 and Q3 2021, only to nosedive again by 11% in Q4 2021.

Rinaldo Pereira, Business Fundamentals Analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Despite firms being optimistic about demand outlook, their hands are tied due to supply issues. GlobalData’s Filing analytics data show worrying signs of these persisting with sentiments falling behind from the higher range towards a more neutral ‘par’ range. Companies continue to face inflationary pressures due to labor shortages, component supply issues, and transportation challenges.”

‘Supply’ and ‘Labor’ were some of the top keywords mentioned in company discussions around the word ‘shortage’ alongside keywords like ‘raw materials’, ‘components’ and ‘semiconductors’ during Q3 and Q4 2021.

Pereira continues: “The labor shortage only adds to the plight of companies that are already grappling with supply issues. Keyword mentions of ‘labor’ mentions have already surpassed ‘supply’ in Q4 2021, while ‘semiconductor’ persists. However, ‘supply’ was largely the top throughout 2021. Looking at filings data, Qualcomm, Nikola, and Li Auto, all have ‘next year’ or ‘2022’ as keywords in discussions around the chip shortage with other companies preparing for the worst and not expecting it to be resolved until 2023.”

Daniel Clarke, Analyst on the Thematic Research Team at GlobalData, comments: “While GlobalData estimates that the global chip shortage will continue into 2022, we expect improvements in H2, as the US and European semiconductor firms increase their capacity.”