Polypore drops (again) on news that GM will shut its Volt plant for four weeks
Okay, I get it: The current stock market doesn’t care about the long-term. Buy or sell on the now. That’s it.
But do we all have to go along?
Case in point: Polypore International. The stock, not exactly a winner out of the gate since I added it to Jubak’s Picks http://jubakpicks.com/the-jubak-picks/ on January 13, got kicked hard on August 28 by an analyst report that pointed out the obvious: General Motor’s (GM) decision to close down the Detroit-Hamtramck plant that makes the electric Volt for four weeks isn’t exactly good news from Polypore, which makes separators for lithium batteries used in electric cars. The analyst note from Capstone questioned whether Volt sales, currently running at a monthly average of 1,525 could meet GM’s projections of a 1,865 sales rate for the rest of 2012. Capstone cut its earnings projections for 2012 and 2013 to $2.23 and $2.80 from $2.26 and $2.85.
On this 3-cent or 5-cent reduction in projected earnings, the stock fell 7.6%. The shares are now down about 40% from my purchase date.
The question of whether a 340 car swing in monthly production one way of the other is significant for a company with $196 million in sales in its most recent quarter aside, I’d like to draw your attention to the big auto market story of the next day and the stock’s reaction to it.
On August 29 news stories announced that the Obama administration had finalized new Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards that would require automaker’s to sell a product mix that recorded an average 54.5 miles per gallon by 2025. That’s a big increase from the 28.6 mpg standard at the end of 2011 and the 35.5 mpg goal agreed to by the industry for the end of 2016.
Under the rules there are two ways an automaker can reach those goals. The carmaker can increase the fuel efficiency of cars and trucks it sells by selling fewer gas guzzlers, by improving the fuel efficiency of individual cars by lowering their weight, say, or giving them more efficient engines, or selling more fuel-efficient hybrids. Or it can improve its numbers by getting credits from the government for selling cars that use natural gas or that run on electricity, or that have stop-start circuits that shut off engines at stop lights, or that use less-polluting coolants in their air conditioners. In practice automakers follow both routes. Which means that the new rules will be a big boon to makers of electric and hybrid cars and to suppliers who sell lighter weight materials (carbon fiber) or devices like ultracapacitors that these stop-start circuits will use.
So Polypore International rallied on the news right? Nah. Shares fell another 1.7% on August 29. Even shares of companies with less riding on auto sales did better. Maxwell Technologies (MXWL), a maker of ultracapacitors for cars and wind turbines, climbed by 11 cents on the 29th. Japan’s Toray Industries (TRYIY), a big maker of carbon fiber for autos and airplanes, climbed 20 cents on the day.
Today, August 30, shares of Polypore International were up 2.43% on a different analyst note, this one from Needham, saying that it expects Volt sales to exceed 2,500 cars in August and—and this is the important point for the long-term—that 80% of Polypore’s core businesses are improving. The note called the shares undervalued and gave the stock, which it called a “strong buy,” a target price of $42.
1525, 1865, 2500 Volts a month? Insignificant. What does matter is that Polypore, a dominant maker of separator membranes for lithium and conventional lead acid auto batteries gets 65% of its revenue from outside the U.S. Think the company’s revenues might just be a little bit dependent on car sales in China and in Europe? Its biggest growth business recently has indeed been in lithium batteries, but not in lithium batteries for electric cars. The big revenues here have been in lithium batteries for portable electronics. Think the global economic slowdown might have some impact on those revenues.
The big question for Polypore is when China’s auto business might pick up (watch the People’s Bank for stimulus measures) and when the global economy might show enough growth so that consumers might increase their buying of portable electronics.
If you think the calendar for those improvements points to the latter part of 2012 and to 2013, then Polypore is currently oversold and should recover ground to the $36 to $38 level that has marked the top of its range for quite a while recently. At the current $31.61, Polypore makes a good candidate for a swing trade. Anything beyond that $36 to $38 level will require not just some improvement in the global economy but real strength in that economy in China and the United States. I can see that happening if the U.S. doesn’t drive off a fiscal cliff in January and if the world manages that escape, I see Polypore as a $44 a share stock in Augusts 2013.
Lots of “ifs” in those target prices but Polypore’s business is hitched to a very unpredictable global economy—and not to the sale or no sale of a few hundred Volts.
Full disclosure: I don’t own shares of any of the companies mentioned in this post in my personal portfolio. The mutual fund I manage, Jubak Global Equity Fund http://jubakfund.com/ , may or may not now own positions in any stock mentioned in this post. The fund did own shares of Polypore International as of the end of March. For a full list of the stocks in the fund as of the end of March see the fund’s portfolio at http://jubakfund.com/about-the-fund/holdings/
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I think Jubak is letting his politics cloud his investment decisions.
This along with A123 have been colossal failures. And don’t even get me started on Yingli Energy.
Major blindspot blind spot with environmental vaporware.
I owned a 93 buick electra that got 28mpg in town and 36 on the highway. I bought it used from a sales man whom had put over drive gearing back to back in it. Why isn’t this used more is what I can’t figure out.
Hipsak, all you have to do is watch the documentary: “Who killed the Electric Car” I have a friend that has an older model Cadillac that got 30 mpg. The technology is out there, just not being used.
Init my first position on it at 32. Personally, I like Polypore’s fundamental for the long term. And at the current price level, I think it worth nibbling a bit in.
JIM your site has had some problem for a while, with the video links. A bad tag?
What do Jim’s politics have to do with this? In a world of scarce resources, does anyone seriously doubt that alternative energy is a growth industry? Jim’s timing on these picks wasn’t very good, but frankly your market timing isn’t perfect either, or else you’d be relaxing on a private island somewhere rather than spending your time pissing and moaning endlessly on an investment blog.
If you think Jim is an idiot and his blog is a waste of time, then fine, quit reading the blog and go do something useful with your time.
EVERYONE here I assume would like to get rich and be able to retire to an island somewhere… isn’t that why we invest?
Alternative energy is a growth industry but.
There is politics, there are subsidies, there is China flooding the market with underpriced solar panels. A lot of ways to get hurt. There may even be nuclear energy making a comeback.