A snapshot of motorcycle and ATV industry share performance across key manufacturers and major global markets at the trading week closure on Friday 17 May 2024. BDN financial editor Roger Willis reports.
USA — SPRING SMILES IN ABUNDANCE
Better than expected quarterly corporate earnings reports from major US retailers, led by giant supermarket chain Walmart, relaxed investors and Wall Street stocks rallied throughout the week. Driven by self-evident consumer confidence, analysts shrugged off concerns about the interest-rate reduction timetable — on the basis that it’ll happen sooner or later — so why worry about exactly when?
Most market indices reflected this sense of bonhomie with consistent gains. Blue-chip S&P 500 stocks finished 1.5% up by Friday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average put on 1.2%. Techie bets on NASDAQ’s Composite did even better, climbing by 2.1%. However, S&P’s MidCap 400 remained fairly weak, only managing a 0.7% advance, as manufacturing enterprises (including America’s powersports players) clearly weren’t enjoying the full benefits of resurgent opportunities.
| Currency: dollar | Price | Week | Month |
| Harley-Davidson | 35.39 | +2% | -7% |
| Polaris Industries | 84.35 | -3.7% | -3.5% |
| Textron | 89.17 | +0.7% | -4.4% |
| Ideanomics (Energica) | 1.01 | -1.9% | +21.7% |
| Niu Technologies | 2.39 | +3% | +24.5% |
| LiveWire | 6.73 | -4.7% | -6.9% |
EUROPE — DIVIDED OPINIONS
Conversely, Teutonic stocks faded after disappointing quarterly declines for some big-league players in the German energy and industrial sectors. This was expressed by Frankfurt’s key Xetra Dax index turning negative by 0.4% after the previous week’s upbeat sentiment. Among motorcycle-related automotives, BMW took a notable spanking.
The mood was much better elsewhere, though. In Italy, Milan’s FTSE MIB index stacked on 2.1%. Nevertheless, scooter giant Piaggio’s Q1 profit slump, after due digestion, was punished with a share price reversal. In Austria, the Wiener Börse ATX rose by a useful 1.7% and KTM parent Pierer shares made a remarkable recovery.
| Currency: euro | Price | Week | Month |
| BMW | 96.02 | -5.5% | -9.3% |
| Volkswagen | 140.40 | +4.1% | -0.6% |
| Pierer Mobility | 39.50 | +5.1% | -2.7% |
| Piaggio Group | 2.86 | -2.1% | +2.1% |
JAPAN — YEN OBFUSCATION
Bank of Japan currency support intervention became quieter, but didn’t stop, as yen volatility continued — making it harder to translate the bottom lines in full-year and Q1 corporate reports into anything meaningful for western comprehension. Nevertheless, the Nikkei 225 index spanning exchanges in Tokyo and Osaka rallied, rising by 1.5%. Yamaha Motor was last to release data among the big-four Japanese motorcycle producers and immediately earned status as the week’s hot biker stock.
| Currency: yen | Price | Week | Month |
| Honda | 1728 | -0.5% | -1.1% |
| Yamaha | 1467 | +2% | +6.3% |
| Suzuki | 1785 | -0.1% | +4.3% |
| Kawasaki | 5520 | -5.2% | +15% |
INDIA — BIDING ITS TIME
The end isn’t yet in sight for six weeks of voting in India’s gigantic General Election. But Mumbai’s investment community settled down somewhat into business as usual and the two key market indices tracked each other closely. S&P’s BSE Sensex 30 rose by 1.8% and the NSE Nifty 50 added 2%.
Hero MotoCorp and TVS Motor shares easily topped the genuinely motorcycle-oriented pile. Mahindra made a much bigger gain but its relatively modest quantities of retro BSA bikes and various other PTW brands didn’t really figure. After all, this company is also the world’s largest agricultural tractor manufacturer.
| Currency: rupee | Price | Week | Month |
| Hero MotoCorp | 5089.20 | +4.3% | +20.8% |
| Bajaj Auto | 8780.70 | -2.3% | -0.3% |
| TVS Motor | 2184.45 | +5.9% | +15% |
| Eicher Motors | 4693.90 | +0.8% | +8.1% |
| Mahindra | 2514.60 | +14.7% | +20.7% |
CHINA — PUTIN ON A BRAVE FACE
Chinese factory output data released in the past week raised hopes of an economic uptick, while President Xi Jinping conducted a love-in with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin — the outcome of which remained opaque, although the former significantly moderated his abuse of American and European global hegemony. (He badly needs to sell more exports in that direction, paid for in hard currencies rather than fairly worthless roubles.)
In China’s listed motorcycle producer firmament, the quartet of popularly-financed and privately-managed participants — Qianjiang, Zongshen, Loncin and CFMoto — continue to stand out as the only worthwhile investments.
| Currency: yuan | Price | Week | Month |
| Qianjiang | 20.81 | -5.4% | +31.7% |
| Zongshen | 12.93 | +11.8% | +25.5% |
| Sundiro | 3.15 | -0.6% | +7.1% |
| CETC (Jialing) | 11.93 | -1.4% | +6% |
| Lifan | 3.25 | -0.9% | +5.9% |
| Loncin | 7.75 | -2.1% | +20.3% |
| Linhai | 8.22 | -0.8% | +11.8% |
| Guangzhou Auto | 8.67 | -1.3% | -0.2% |
| CFMoto | 163.56 | +2% | +18.8% |
| Xinri E-Vehicle | 11.97 | -5.5% | +10.5% |