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Letter to the Editor

This article originally appeared in the June 2010 Issue of INSIGHT

Road Trip

Well, there are clear-cut big winners and large losers this month for our Collision Repair Industry related stocks on the road of life. The big winners are our refinish paint manufacturers, with the exception of Akzo Nobel, and the losers are our national car dealership groups.

Refinish paint manufacturer Akzo Nobel took the biggest detour from upward growth at the Dow again this month, of the companies we track. Akzo, with a per share stock price of $52.60, is almost 22 percent below its New Year’s per share price.

Our other refinish coatings manufacturers, DuPont, PPG, Sherwin-Williams, and Valspar, all cruised along nicely this month, with Sherwin-Williams leading the paint pack at $77.63 per share, nearly 25 percent above its January price. DuPont’s $37.62 share price showed an almost 11 percent improvement YTD. PPG was up about ten percent YTD, and Valspar, with a $30.89 share price, posted an over 12 percent improvement YTD.

Our national car dealership groups hit some serious potholes on what has been a lovely road for them at the Dow these past several months. The Penske Automotive Group went into reverse gear this month, droppingto $13.49 per share, over eleven percent off drom its beginning of 2010 per share price. CarMax hit a bump, dropping over five percent YTD. Sonic Automotive’s per share price slipped a bit over three percent YTD, and AutoNation , with a per share stock price of $19.40, was only a tiny six cents off from its January price.

Our insurer stocks are still posting per share stock prices showing positive growth since the beginning of the year, except for Travelers, off just a tad YTD. Progressive is idling in virtually the same spot as in May. The insurer’s per share price, at $20.27 is almost 13 percent above its January spot.Allstate fell a little from last month’s showing of $34.30 per share, but the Good Hands company is still posting an almost five percent improvement YTD.

There certainly is some stiff competition among insurers for new customers this month. It seems that there are more insurance commercials on television and radio than ever before. I wonder how much of their budgets get directed into advertising - must be big bucks!

I am happy to see that U.S. vehicle manufacturers seem to be inching their way forward. Hopefully, they will keep improving.

-Charles Baker-

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