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Letter to the Editor

This article originally appeared in the April 2010 Issue of INSIGHT

A Mixed Bag

Well, our Collision Repair Industry Stock Report companies’ Wall Street postings are a mixed bag this month. Some per share stock prices are a little up YTD and some are a tad down, but no big bumps up or down so far this year. Sigh - I like a little quiet nowadays.

Refinish paint manufacturer Akzo Nobel took the hardest hit at the Dow of the companies we track, dropping about a dollar in its per share price, a bit over 16 percent below its January mark. Our other refinish coatings manufacturers, DuPont, PPG, Sherwin-Williams, and Valspar, all showed a nice upward progression, with PPG out in front at $64.40 per share, nearly nine percent above its New Year’s Day spot.

Two of the national car dealership groups, AutoNation and CarMax, lost a little ground in per share stock prices this month. The Penske Automotive Group’s stock price rose a hair over two percent YTD, to $15.54, and Sonic Automotive, posting a per share price of nearly $12 was up over nine percent.

The Parts & Equipment Index continues to improve. It is a puzzle to me, but a pleasant one. At 196, this index has improved over 13 percent over int January mark. I am wondering if we will see it hit 200 next month.

Good economic news has been trickling in over the past few weeks. We all seem to be developing some cautious optimism - not that we can even think about saying that a nice recovery is in the bag. As I well know NOTHING is a sure thing on Wall Street.

The Boyd Group’s per share stock price improved at the Toronto Exchange a little over its showing last month, but not by much. The Canadian collision repair facility consolidator’s per share price, at $5.36 Cdn, is still off its beginning of 2010 $5.75 Cdn by nearly seven percent.

Our insurer stocks have had a fairly calm time so far this year. Allstate has shown some improvement at the Dow this month, posting a per share price of $30.93, an almost two percent improvement YTD. Progressive improved from its $16.69 posting last month to $17.36 this month, but that is still three and a half percent below its January price.

Overall, I am pleased with the reported financial improvements in Detroit and really hope that things continue to improve into the Summer months.

-Charles Baker-

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