A snapshot of motorcycle and ATV industry share performance across key manufacturers and major global markets at the trading week closure on Friday 13 October 2023. BDN financial editor Roger Willis reports.
USA — INCIDENTALLY, A BAD DATE FOR HARLEY
War in the Middle East dominated US news feeds and caused some bouts of market jitters. But that didn’t stop Wall Street cashing in. Defence stocks soared on the lucrative prospect of resupplying Israel with a lot more bombs and missiles, with which to obliterate Palestinian Hamas terrorists in Gaza and their Hezbollah chums in Lebanon. The quarterly corporate reporting season also kicked in, led by big banks mightily boosting their bottom lines thanks to currently very high interest rates. So S&P 500 blue-chips and the Dow Jones Industrial Average respectively closed on 0.4% and 0.8% weekly gains.
However, the tech-focused NASDAQ Composite fell by 0.2% and S&P’s MidCap 400 finished 0.5% down. A notable stand-out loser on the latter was Harley-Davidson, soon to file its Q3 report. With shares sinking into the 20-buck range, at their lowest valuation for almost exactly three years, Harley supremo Jochen Zeitz now has a large question mark hanging over the efficacy of his “Hardwire” strategic plan for rebooting Milwaukee”s finest. Worse, the Zeitz-initiated LiveWire electric motorcycle spin-off, which will release quarterly performance details as part of the parental statement, isn’t doing too well either.
| Currency: dollar | Price | Week | Month |
| Harley-Davidson | 29.79 | -1.5% | -10.7% |
| Polaris Industries | 97.13 | -0.3% | -9.1% |
| Textron | 78.29 | +1.8% | +2.7% |
| Ideanomics (Energica) | 2.37 | +4.9% | +12.9% |
| Niu Technologies | 2.31 | -10.5% | -20.9% |
| LiveWire | 7.72 | -8.7% | -22.8% |
EUROPE — LOOKING THE OTHER WAY?
Israel-Hamas conflict fears inevitably had some impact on European market indices and Frankfurt’s Xetra Dax in Germany fell for a third consecutive week. But this movement was relatively minor, just 0.3% down, and biker-related Teutonic automotive stocks weren’t troubled. Milan’s FTSE MIB in Italy was completely unscathed, adding 1.5%.
Piaggio wasn’t a beneficiary though and has now lost approaching a fifth of its value in the past month, in the wake of erstwhile chief executive and chairman Roberto Colaninno’s demise. Elsewhere in the eurozone, the Wiener Börse ATX in Austria recovered, rising by 0.9%. Nevertheless, KTM parent Pierer Mobility shares continued to slide.
However, EU concerns about energy price and supply pressures, related to Middle Eastern OPEC countries’ disquiet about Israeli behaviour, are bound to grow as the Gaza Strip death toll escalates. At least it’ll give our eurocousins a chance to worry about a war that’s not so uncomfortably close as Russia versus Ukraine.
| Currency: euro | Price | Week | Month |
| BMW | 97.76 | +2.1% | +0.3% |
| Volkswagen | 121.50 | +0.2% | -2.4% |
| Pierer Mobility | 61.80 | -3.7% | -13.9% |
| Piaggio Group | 2.91 | -1.4% | -18.5% |
JAPAN — READY TO COUNT PROFITS
Advent of the autumnal corporate reporting season is certainly important to Japan’s business-centric culture. Casting other issues aside, Tokyo investors piled in to push the Nikkei 225 index skywards by a generous 4.3% in the past week. For those of a motorcycling bent, Q2 (half-yearly) earnings from Honda, Suzuki and Kawasaki will be first on the grid. A rarity among Japanese firms, Yamaha Motor follows with nine-monthly numbers from Q3 of its western-style calendar year.
| Currency: yen | Price | Week | Month |
| Honda | 1682 | +4% | -3.9% |
| Yamaha | 3885 | +4.6% | -3.5% |
| Suzuki | 5955 | +3.3% | -5.5% |
| Kawasaki | 3680 | +9.1% | -5.2% |
INDIA — FESTIVAL FLUNK FEAR FACTOR
Investor doubts about Diwali’s ability to get tills jingling in November haven’t gone away and Mumbai’s S&P BSE Sensex market index struggled for traction, delivering only a 0.4% weekly gain. Motorcycle manufacturing equities were more positive, to varying degrees. And two of them stood out thanks to electrification input. Hero MotoCorp has acquired a stake worth £89m in leading indigenous e-scooter brand Ather. And TVS Motor has challenged potential electric opposition with the launch of a premium e-TVS X, which claims to set “new global benchmarks” for the EV industry. Maybe it’s an e-Norton in disguise.
| Currency: rupee | Price | Week | Month |
| Hero MotoCorp | 3098.45 | +2% | +1.1% |
| Bajaj Auto | 5052.40 | +0.8% | +1.5% |
| TVS Motor | 1600.90 | +6.6% | +6.5% |
| Eicher Motors | 3476.40 | +0.8% | +1.4% |
| Mahindra | 1562.45 | +0.9% | -2.4% |
CHINA — HOLIDAY HANGOVER
The Chinese population staggered back to work after well-lubricated Golden Week public holiday breaks. Major stock exchanges in Shanghai and Shenzhen opened for business, to be met by distinctly subdued activity from investors. Among the ten motorcycle manufacturer listings, half were mildly positive. But only predominantly state-owned Jialing parent CETC advanced with anything approaching verve.
| Currency: yuan | Price | Week | Month |
| Qianjiang | 14.05 | -0.4% | -1.5% |
| Zongshen | 6.85 | +0.3% | +3.6% |
| Sundiro | 2.35 | -4.9% | -6.7% |
| CETC (Jialing) | 14.75 | +8% | +11% |
| Lifan | 3.70 | +1.4% | +1.6% |
| Loncin | 5.79 | -0.7% | +7.4% |
| Linhai | 8.99 | -2.6% | -2.7% |
| Guangzhou Auto | 10.31 | +3% | +2.2% |
| CFMoto | 135.19 | -3.6% | -3.7% |
| Xinri E-Vehicle | 13.83 | +0.1% | +1.2% |