Investments in EV Business a priority – Mahindra and Mahindra
Update on the Indian Equity Market:
On Thursday, Indian benchmarks declined for the third consecutive session with NIFTY closing at 17,874 (-0.8%). Among the sectoral indices, METAL (+0.4%), CONSUMER DURABLES (+0.3%) were the only gainers. REALTY (-2.3%), PSU BANK (-1.8%), PHARMA (-1.4%) led the laggards. Among the stocks, TITAN (+1.7%), HINDALCO (+1.1%), and JSWSTEEL (+0.6%) led the gainers, while SBIN (-2.8%), ONGC (-2.6%), and SBILIFE (-2.5%) led the laggards.
Excerpts of an interview with Mr. Manoj Bhat, CFO, Mahindra and Mahindra (M&M) with CNBC-TV18 on 10th November 2021:
- Raw Material Inflation has been a key headwind for the industry due the commodity cycle turning, However the company is taking a calibrated approach to passing on the costs to consumers through price hikes as the commodity cycles are transient in nature.
- The company already has taken 3 price hikes in the farm segment and 2 in the auto segment, and there’s still robust demand and thus the company plans to adopt a wait and watch policy.
- The entire auto industry has seen margins getting contracted severely and the company thinks that the margins have bottomed out at these levels. However the impact was seen in this quarter due to volume loss as a result of semiconductor issue and new product launches which are margin dilutive in the first few quarters.
- The Company expects margins to improve over 2HFY22 due to scale benefit from volume recovery as the semiconductor situation improves, and calibrated price hikes if necessary.
- The semi-conductor issue is a global one and it peaked in Q2FY22, but there’s signs of improvement across the world with improving visibility and the company expects normalcy in 1HFY23.
- Tractor volumes were impacted due to erratic monsoons, however even on an inflated base of FY21, the company expects high single digit growth in FY22. The demand fluctuation is short term the company expects demand to stabilise in 4QFY22 led by market share gain by the company.
- EV Three Wheelers segment has shown tremendous growth of 317% YoY in Q2FY22 with a 63% market share. The company expects 20% of current 3 wheeler segment to shift to EV by FY25, and the company has plans to invest Rs 30 bn over FY23-25 to expand its dominant position.
Asset Multiplier Comments
- We expect the raw material inflation to impact the bottom line in the medium term.
- Notwithstanding the semiconductor shortage, it has received a positive response for its new launches such as Thar, XUV 300, and Bolero Neo. The company has indicated its loyal customers are willing to wait as long as 9-12 months to get the new cars. We like the customer loyalty and expect the company’s top line to benefit in the medium to long term.
- While its revamping its SUV portfolio, the company has ambitious plans to launch electric varients in its UV and 3W portfolio. This may help improve the product penetration.
Consensus Estimate (Source: market screener and tikr.com websites)
- The closing price of M&M was ₹ 925/- as of 11-November-21. It traded at 24x/ 20x/ 17x the consensus EPS estimate of ₹ 39/ 46/ 54 for FY22E/ FY23E/FY24E respectively.
- The consensus target price of ₹ 1,050/- implies a PE multiple of 19x on FY24E EPS of ₹ 54/-.
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