Coatings Celebrations
As the world’s auto manufacturing sector has begun to restart normal operations, coatings companies have become more attractive to investors. Automotive paint providers have seen their stocks rise en masse over the past month.
BASF stock, which was trading at about €46.24 ($70)-per-share a month ago, is now trading around €57.66 ($87.15). This equates to a rise of close to 20 percent.
Axalta stock has risen from $19.6 U.S. ($26.46) to around $25 U.S.-per-share ($33.75), or about 21 percent over the same period.
Sherwin-Williams stock has gained more than 20 percent, rising from $549 U.S. ($734.67) to $585 ($782.85) over the past month, a six percent rise. PPG stock has gone from $91 U.S. ($123) to $114 U.S. ($154).
Akzo Nobel Stock has gained 69.7 79 euros ($105.39) ($119.45), an increase of about 12 percent.
Global Side Effects
A new paper from Meticulous Research, a U.S.-based automotive sector analysis firm, has concluded that the COVID-19 pandemic has cost the automotive sector a total of $5.7 billion U.S. ($7.2 billion). The firm estimates that the virus will cause an annual drop in the sectors value of about 15 to 20 percent.
“Major automotive players such as Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Ford, PSA Group, Volkswagen Group factories in Europe, Ducati, Tesla factory in California, BMW group European factories, Rolls-Royce, General Motors are among the global automotive manufacturers who have suspended their production due to Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic,” Meticulous Research wrote in a press release.
The firm also found that Europe has been the region where the automotive sector has felt the most significant impact. According to the paper, the pandemic has cost the continent’s automotive sector some $2.5 billion U.S. ($3.125 billion).
“The automotive industry in Europe employs 2.6 million people in direct automotive manufacturing; of which approximately 1.1 million jobs have been affected due to coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak. The region has reported production loss of 1,231,038 units due to lockdown enforced by governments and various manufacturing units across the region to safeguard their employees’ health and contain the spread of virus,” the press release read.
Meticulous also concluded that European governments would not be able to produce effective bailout strategies until the final quarter of 2020.
Meticulous Research was founded in 2010. Since its incorporation, with the help of its unique research methodologies, the company has become the leading provider of premium market intelligence in North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, and the Middle East and Africa regions.
S.A.F.E. Investment
Canadian auto parts manufacturer Magna International Magna International was named as one of 10 companies offering consistently increasing dividends over the past five years.
The S.A.F.E. List, produced by the U.S.-based Dividend Channel, also includes 3M.
Currently, Magna stockholders are set to receive $1.6 per share, which is paid out on a quarterly basis.
Since being named to the list in May, Magna’s stock has risen from about $54-per-share to $63-per-share. Its 2020 highwater mark was around $73-per-share in mid-January.
