Barclays 'Baffled' By Lear Shares' Underperformance

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Following the robust Q2 results reported by Lear Corporation LEA, Barclays’ Brian A. Johnson mentioned he was “baffled” by the stock’s underperformance, despite the strong results. Johnson maintained an Equal-Weight rating on the company, while raising the price target from $125 to $127.

The analyst believes the lack of incremental buyers possibly explains “why strong results like this don't result in greater outperformance for the stock.”

Margin Strength Drove Results

Johnson stated that once again, the upside during the quarter was driven by margin strength across both of Lear’s segments.

“Management seems confident that these margins can hold both near and mid-term, and that there may even be some upside - and we forecast continued margin strength in 2H'16,” the analyst said.

Outlook

Johnson also noted that given the expectations of an industry volume decline in 2017 and with OEMs facing incremental margin pressures, the company was likely to ultimately see some margin pressure.

Management maintained its conservative EBIT guidance despite the beat quarter, while guiding to Seating margins in the high 7 percent to low 8 percent range and Electrical margins in the high 14 percent to low 15 percent range.

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Posted In: Analyst ColorPrice TargetAnalyst RatingsBarclaysBrian A. Johnson
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