Opinions
John Zechner
Martinrea
MRE-T
TOP PICK
Dec 19, 2014
Stock price when the opinion was issued
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True, there are headwinds in autos, but this trades at 3-4x operating cash flow and 8-9x forward PE. Also, they're huge in areas like aluminum parts. Are well-positioned in gas-engine cars and EVs; there's 80% crossover shared between both kinds of cars.
(Analysts’ price target is $19.34)A cyclical player, but that happens in the auto industry. He's added to this recently. Still cheap. Autos have issues: inventories are climbing and EVs haven't take off as expected. MRE can supply both EVs and traditional cars, and there's been insider buying. Trades at 3x operating cash flow and 8x forward PE.
The car sector has disappointed, is floundering. He sold some car stocks, but held onto MRE because it's cheap. Is lots of insider buying and margins are improving. Are almost immune from the EV transition because the components they made can be used in gas as well as electric cars. 8-9x forward PE and a good balance sheet.
Everything that could go wrong, has. Potential tariffs of 25%. Concerns about capex needed for EVs. Now trading at 3x operating cashflow, 7-8 forward PE. Doing the right things, great backlog, European exposure. Still likes the story, sticking with it.
Auto stocks are really struggling, both Canada and US, and they're right at the epicentre of this whole tariff battle. Beware the value trap -- something's gone down, looks cheap, but hasn't started going up yet. Chart doesn't look as though it's bottomed out yet.
Though cheap, it could still go lower. Whole sector might take time to build a base, as it's been beaten down so much. The auto sector really brought down the most recent Canadian retail sales numbers.
He is looking for things that are more deep value oriented. This has some growth over the next couple of years, and is trading at a fairly discounted multiple. There has been some disappointment over the management shuffle and infightings over the past years, but in terms of the programs they have put in place and the spending, he can see an earnings growth over the next couple of years of 35%-40%. Also, they have great exposure to aluminum, and using this in cars is a trend going forward. Yield of 1.21%. Can see it 40%-50%-60% higher in a couple of years.