AutoCanada on the Up
For the second quarter in a row, AutoCanada has reported strong results, with consolidated revenues of $981.9 million—an increase of $115 million and 13.3 percent growth over 2018’s results.
AutoCanada reported earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) of $32.5 million, reflecting an increase of 100.7 percent over last year, while the company’s third-quarter EBITDA of $21.8 million reflects a 34.9 percent increase over Q3 of last year.
AutoCanada’s strong third quarter is surely something to be celebrated—in the past five years, the company’s share prices have dropped more than 88 percent. The stock has also done poorly over the last year, with share prices down about 35 percent so far.
The company praised its Canadian store metrics as well as the added stability in its U.S. operations for its third-quarter success.
“We’re very pleased to post another strong quarter, and this accelerating momentum provides continued validation of the effort we started over a year ago,” said Paul Antony, executive chairman of AutoCanada. “Our same-store metrics in Canada were once again up across the board, while we made significant and continued progress in stabilizing our U.S. operations. We achieved this while reducing our net debt by $69.4 million in the quarter.”
In total, the company sold 19,652 vehicles—up 533 units, or 2.8 percent from the second quarter. New unit sales were up 9.1 percent, while new and used unit sales increased by 12.7 percent.
Share prices saw a slight uptick on Nov. 8, thanks to the company’s strong Q3 results. On Thursday’s close, shares were $8.32 each, while Friday saw a high of $10.59 and closed at $10.05.
Copart Party
Copart Inc. stocks are garnering attention from market analysts after being reported the “Best Industrial Stock of 2019” by Bloomberg.
Copart Inc. is a $19-billion company that specializes in online car auctions for vehicles that are too damaged to be repaired by insurance companies. The company’s buyers include scrap yards and parts companies like LKQ Corporation.
When the company’s fiscal year came to a close in July, it reported revenue increases of 13 percent, as well as a net income increase of more than 40 percent.
Copart’s stocks have been rising steadily this year and even touched an all-time high of $84.68 per share in late October. Analysts expect the stock to rise to more than $88 per share over the next year.
In terms of industrial stocks, Copart is only second to Arconic—an aerospace-parts supplier—in year-to-date performance.
As of Nov. 11, Copart is trading at $82.73, up 1.56 percent from Friday’s close.
Palladium Power
Precious metal prices have been hitting historical highs since August, with palladium recently surging to more than $1,800 per ounce on Oct. 28.
On Nov. 11, palladium stood at $1,708.60 per ounce. In previous years, palladium has sat around $1,000 per ounce, rarely exceeding prices of $1,300.
Since the start of 2019, palladium prices have grown by 42.72 percent—in 2018, prices only increased by 12.84 percent throughout the year.
But palladium’s power does not come without disadvantages: the uptick in precious metal prices is believed to have influenced a string of catalytic converter thefts in Hamilton, Ont. Since May, local police have seen more than 61 catalytic converter thefts.
Catalytic converters—which contain precious metals like platinum, rhodium, copper, nickel, cerium, iron, manganese, and, of course, palladium—are said to be easily sold off to scrap metal–or parts–dealers.
“It’s worth more than gold an ounce,” said Dave McDonald, president of Bodyline Auto Recyclers. “It’s palladium, rhodium…let’s put it this way: the motivation for them to do it is definitely the scrap metal and any scrap metal dealer would buy it.”
