Zhì Tōng Cái Jīng APP learned that Blue Bird Corporation (BLBD.US), the leading school bus manufacturer in North America, has already risen 100% year-to-date, even though the autos industry as a whole is facing macroeconomic pressures, and investors are also resistant to companies that are believed to have invested too much in the electric vehicle sector.
It is known that Blue Bird has a history of more than 90 years, focusing on designing, manufacturing and selling various types of school buses from Type A to Type D, and becoming the market leader in alternative power products with its propane, rbob gasoline, compressed natural gas and electric school buses.
In the second quarter earnings report, Blue Bird's revenue increased 15% year-on-year to $346 million, higher than Wall Street analysts' average expectation of $298.4 million. Adjusted earnings per share more than doubled year-on-year to $0.89 per share. As of the end of the second quarter, the company had a backlog of about 500 electric vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 56%.
Several Seeking Alpha analysts have recently expressed their views that even after a sharp rise in stock price, Blue Bird still has potential for growth.
Juxtaposed Ideas stated that the surge in Blue Bird's stock price can be attributed to the suppressed demand for school bus replacement after multiple postponements in the past three years. Compared with its competitors, Blue Bird's sales of electric/low-emission school buses have increased, which will help the company seize the trend of large-scale electrification in the next decade. These developments have brought higher profit margins and continuously growing orders to Blue Bird, and multiple price increases so far have contributed greatly to good performance and stock price.
In the medium term, there is still a large space for growth, as most school buses currently in use are old with an average lifespan of 12 years and a replacement cycle of 15 years. In addition, Juxtaposed Ideas mentioned that the US government has also provided new funding for electric school buses, hoping to replace most of the existing school buses to meet "more stringent emission standards that will take effect in 2027."
In the past six weeks, Blue Bird's stock price has risen 46%. Short positions account for only 4.1% of its total outstanding shares, lower than that of many other automotive or truck stocks. Currently, BLBD's market cap is $1.75 billion, far lower than the valuations of electric vehicle stocks such as Rivian Automotive (RIVN.US), VinFast Auto (VFS.US), NIO (NIO.US), Lucid Group (LCID.US), Lotus Technology (LOT.US) and XPeng (XPEV.US), but higher than the market capitalization of companies such as LiveWire (LVWR.US), Polestar Automotive (PSNY.US) and Faraday Future Intelligent Electric(FFIE.US).