By Jeff Sanford
Toronto, Ontario — October 24, 2016 — The CRM Index is a group of publicly-traded stocks related to the collision repair sector. The thirteen stocks in the index represent a broad range of companies, from large paint providers such as PPG and Axalta to parts providers such as Fenix and repair organizations like the Boyd Group. You can find the current constituent listings for the CRM Index here. Check in every Tuesday for the latest news on these companies. It’s the best way to keep up on the trends and information you need to drive decision making.
– Akzo Nobel NV has just reported a 1 percent rise in third-quarter earnings. The company announced that the, “ … market environment remained uncertain with challenging conditions in several countries and segments.” The Amsterdam-based company said that the profit rise was, “… mainly due to improvement initiatives and lower costs, although these were partly offset by adverse currency effects …”
For the quarter ended June 30, Akzo Nobel NV said adjusted earnings (stripping out exceptional and other one-off items) rose to 442 million euros from EUR436 million a year earlier. Overall, revenue slipped a bit, falling from EUR 3.6 billion to EUR 3.76 billion. The board declared a dividend of EUR 0.37 a share, up 6 percent from the same period last year.
– Sherwin-Williams stock has underperformed a bit of late, dropping 2.96 percent over the last several months. But the company is set to report earnings on November 3. Analysts say they expect an almost 10 percent increase in the share to a profit of $4.33 a share. That would be a big increase over last year’s profit of $3.97 per share. Someone is betting earnings will come in even higher than analysts expect. Of the 15 analysts covering Sherwin-Williams, nine rate it a “Buy”, zero rate it as a “Sell” and six rate it a “Hold”. That is, 60 percent of analysts have a positive rating on the stock. RBC Capital Markets has an “Outperform” rating on SHW.
– LKQ Corporation has announced it will release its third quarter 2016 financial results just before market bell on Thursday. Analysts seem confident the company will achieve expectations. The stock opened this week trading a bit higher than it was last week at about $33 a share.
– Boyd Group Income Fund is the trading security of the Boyd Group. Units of income funds are identified by the .UN symbol tagged on to the ticker price. Income funds are slightly different than the stocks of corporations. Income funds come under a different set of corporate laws, and so can do different tax things that standard companies registered as corporations cannot.
Basically, income can be flowed through to the owner of the units from the company with lower taxes. As Boyd continues to add stores—over the past week it has opened three new locations, among others—the cash it is generating is appreciated by owners of the trust units. Today units in the Boyd Income Trust enjoy a consensus recommendation of “buy” from brokerages that cover the stock. Recently the Jefferies Group released a report on Boyd that set a target price of between $88 and $100 CAD. That report was issued October 18. Boyd units are currently trading around $85 CAD.
– Automotive franchisor Driven Brands announced last week it bought up Lube Stop, a Berea, Ohio-based operator of 51 quick oil change locations. The acquisition ups the number of Driven Brands’ Quick Lube business locations to more than 220. The acquisition ties into the recent formation of Driven Brands’ Quick Lube Group. “This represents terrific growth for the newly formed Quick Lube Vertical at Driven Brands,” notes Marc Graham, President of the Quick Lube vertical for Driven Brands. “In just six months, we’ve greatly increased our footprint while offering unrivaled service to customers. Backed by Driven Brands’ world-class technology, purchasing power, operational support and resources, we’ve been able to accelerate our growth and success.” Driven Brands has been on an acquisition spree since its own acquisition by Roark Capital.
– OMERS Private Equity, the buyout fund run by the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System, is working with Caliber Collision in an attempted roll-up of the collision space. In slightly related news OMERS has sold a chain of dental offices to Roark Capital, which owns CARSTAR through its Driven Brands banner.
– Bank analysts that will follow the newly floated Valvoline will soon begin to release analyst’s reports on the company. Valvoline recently held an initial public offering of its stocks. Now, several weeks after the initial sale of the stock the so-called “quiet period” after the IPO (when the investment banks that issued the stock are prevented from promoting it) is down. The quiet period ended on October 18.
