I've had my doubts about Titan Machinery (TITN)
for a while now, as I've seen more than a few debt-funded equipment
dealership roll-up stories in the past, and they often don't end well.
To that end, the last year and two years have been pretty dicey for
buy-and-hold investors, as concerns about the health of the agricultural
equipment market and the potential for a rebound in construction
equipment demand weigh on sentiment.
As it stands today, I have
very mixed feelings about this business. I do have some concerns about
the health of the ag equipment sector in the coming years, and I have
real doubts about Titan's ability to leverage CNH Global (CNH)
construction equipment into a viable construction equipment dealership
business. On the other hand, it seems harsh to say that the company
creates no value at all, and it trades only about 5% above tangible book
value. I'd rather play a bullish (or bullish relative to consensus)
call on agriculture and/or construction through names like Deere (DE), Caterpillar (CAT), Kubota (KUBTY.PK), or Komatsu (KMTUY.PK), but Titan's underperformance makes it hard to be loudly bearish on the name.
Please follow this link to continue:
Titan Machinery - Is This Roll-Up Rolling Over?
1 comment:
Stephen , it was nice to find you on Seeking Alpha today. I'll bookmark your blog. Here is a blog post I did last night on TITAN
http://newsgrade.blogspot.com/2013/09/titans-guidance-cant-be-trusted.html
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