Monday, July 07, 2008

Some Interesting Stuff

1. GM cuts the price of Chevrolet Spark in India when everybody else is raising because of higher commodity prices. Why? Are market share losses in US going to drive GM's competitive behaviour outside US, or is this purely a decision made by GM India? If it is the former, then think of auto industry as one giant global market, irrespective of the import tarriffs that hinder imports (at least in India). So don't salivate on Maruti at 10x PE. The auto industry is on the path of a worldwide bust.

Is public transit the next big thing to bet on? Need to think about that..

2. Merck India: Merck India has a market cap of 500 crore and cash balance of 350 crore. Its PAT from core business is about 40 crore. So on core business, the stock is trading at just 4x PE.

Well I guess the company deserves it. In 2006, they sold a business to a 100% subsidiary of Merck Germany (the parent company of the listed entity) for 4x PE. That business did a PAT of 20 crore and was sold for 82 crore. Isn't that stealing from the minority shareholders?

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