3 Undervalued And Under-The-Radar Automotive Stocks

 | Oct 29, 2021 05:50AM ET

h2 Results Drive These Automotive Stocks Higher

The automotive industry is struggling with systemic issues but, by all accounts, still doing quite well. While the major OEMs are cutting back on production, sales remain robust and the outlook for the industry is healthy. Today, we’re looking at three under-the-radar stocks in the automotive industry benefiting from strong secular demand. One thing these companies have in common is better than expected results, but there are other commonalities as well. They also all pay safe dividends and trade a discount relative to the broad market, and they are all investing in growth.

h2 1. Patrick Industries - Supplier To The RV Market/h2

Patrick Industries (NASDAQ:PATK) is not a pure-play on the automotive industry, but it is sitting pretty as a manufacturer of parts and components for the RV industry. The RV industry is growing at a high-double-digit rate and momentum appears to be building, and that is easily seen in Patrick Industries’ results. The company reported a 51.3% increase in YOY revenue driven by a 50% increase in the RV segment that beat the Marketbeat.com consensus estimate by more than 1000 basis points. RVs account for over 60% of the company’s revenue with the remainder made up by the boating, manufactured housing, and industrial segments which are all up double-digits as well.

Turning to the dividend, Patrick Industries yields about 1.45% with the stock trading at only 9X its earnings. That is slightly better than the average S&P 500 stock at less than half the cost. The company is paying out only 13% of its consensus earnings so there is room for growth as well as some history. The company has only paid a dividend for two years but increased it for the second. If the company continues this trend, the next declaration will include a distribution increase. The only red flag is a high level of debt, but the debt is being used to fuel growth and is, so far, well covered.