Your Source for Up-To-Date News and Research on the Collision Repair Industry 

 

click here to subscribe to the FREE INSIGHT Editor's Desk News Alert Email

SUBSCRIBERS-ONLY
Today's News
INSIGHT This Month
INSIGHT Archives
Survey Center
Letter to the Editor

Business Tools
Subscription Information
CSI Reporting
Financial Analysis
IRS Audit Guide

Management/
Technical Info
Market Watch Rates
INSIGHT Inside this month's issue...

Feedback
Letter to the Editor

What a Difference a Year Makes

It looks as though 2005 will begin on a pleasant note for our Collision Repair Industry stocks. All but five of the companies we track are ending up 2004 in the plus column in terms of YTD changes in prices per share. This is pleasant, especially considering that the Collision Repair Industry continues to be flat to even flatter, and this New Year will be more of the same in our market arena.

Insurer stocks have proven remarkably healthy in 2004. Allstate’s per share price is up since January 2004 a very nice 16 percent. This growth is impressive after a very bad hurricane season in the Fall. SAFECO ended the year well, too, with a per share price of just under $50. Progressive did not make the big jump in stock price that it made during 2003, when the auto insurer displayed a 64 percent increase in its stock price per share by December, but I predict this auto insurer will gain more marketshare in 2005.

United Auto Group, the performance star of our Investment Page in 2003, ended up 2004 down four percent YTD. The Penske empire car dealership group would love everybody to buy a new car this year, as would AutoNation, whose per share price in December was just 21 cents above its start of the year price of $18.30.

Insurance Auto Auctions is a real success story in 2004. The company’s stock price was down 22 percent at the end of 2003, and was our stock problem child, but IAA’s determination to complete its expensive development and implementation of state-of-the-art auction software has paid off in a big way. The national auction site operator has ended 2004 with a nearly 65 percent increase in its stock price.

Our other vehicle auction company, Copart, must be pleased, too, with its over 60 percent rise in per share price in this past year.

I am hoping that Keystone Automotive’s bottom line will not be severely impacted by the headlamp problem that has surfaced in the parts aftermarket in late 2004, especially with this hardy survivor’s seasoned ability to face sometimes unpleasant difficulties (Remember the State Farm - Avery decision?). Keystone’s per share price dropped over 16 percent in 2004 but I expect to see it begin to climb a bit by Q2 2005.

Our refinish paint manufacturers really impressed me in 2004. In a flat market, each of the major refinish players has managed to end the year in the black with respect to stock price. Sherwin-Williams had a good year on Wall Street. The company’s stock price rose over $10 since the start of 2004. PPG, DuPont, and Valspar closed out the year a hair above where they each started. Both Akzo Nobel, up 12 percent, and BASF, up 22 percent, fared pretty well on Wall Street, too.

-Charles Baker-

Feedback

Have a comment about this article? Send Email to Charles Baker, INSIGHT's Publisher

©2005 Collision Repair Industry INSIGHT
All Rights Reserved

FEATURED
LINKS:

INSIGHT Supports the NABC!
Do You?