HERO MOTOCORP LTD : ON ROAD OF SUCCESS !!!

Scrip Code: 500182 / HEROMOTOCO

CMP:  Rs. 1646.95; Buy at current levels.
Medium to Long term Target: Rs. 1842; STOP LOSS – Rs. 1515.20; Market Cap: Rs. 32,887.53 Cr; 52 Week High/Low: Rs. 2249.00 / Rs. 1615.00

Total Shares: 19,96,87,500 shares; Promoters : 10,42,59,490 shares –52.21 %; Total Public holding : 9,54,28,010 shares – 47.79 %; Book Value: Rs. 148.58; Face Value: Rs. 2.00; EPS: Rs. 107.54; Div: 5250 % ; P/E: 15.31 times; Ind. P/E: 16.50; EV/EBITDA: 10.72.

Total Debt: 1,491.16 Cr; Enterprise Value: Rs. 34,378.70 Cr.

HERO MOTOCORP LIMITED:  HEROMOTOCORP Ltd was incorporated in 1984 and is based in New Delhi, India. The company changed its name to HeroMotoCorp from Hero Honda Motors Ltd in July 2011. HeroMotoCorp engages in the manufacturing and sales of motorcycles in India. It provides a range of two wheeler products, including motorcycles and scooters and spare parts. The company markets its product under various brands, including CD Dawn, CD Deluxe, Splendor Plus, Splendor NXC, Passion and Passion Pro, Passion Plus, Glamour, Super Splendor Pro, Achiever, Glamour FI, Hunk, CBZ X-treme, Karizma, Pleasure and Karizma ZMR. The company offers its product Achiever in 135 cubic centimeter segment. In the 150 cubic centimeters and above the company offers brands like Hunk, CBZ X-treme, Karizma and the Karizma ZMR. It also offers 100 cubic centimeter scooter Pleasure. It offers its products through a network of dealers, service and spare parts outlets and dealer-appointed outlets. The company’s bikes are manufactured across three manufacturing facilities. Two of these are based in Gurgoan and Dharuhera which are located in the state of Haryana in northern India. The third manufacturing plant is based at Haridwar, in the hill state of Uttrakhand. The company was a joint venture between India’s Hero Group and Japan’s Honda Motors Co whereby the promoter the Munjal’s bought the stake of Honda in July 2011. The company is compared to Bajaj Auto Ltd, TVS Motor Company Ltd, Atlas Cycles (Haryana) & Ashok Leyland Ltd locally and is compared with Shimano Inc of Japan globally.

Investment Rationale:

HEROMOTOCORP (HEROMOTOCO) management has indicated to launch seven to eight new variants every year. The company is targeting 1 million two wheelers to be annually exported by FY17E. The management also stated that it has neither offered discounts or freebies nor it plans to do so in the future. It has hiked dealer commissions by Rs.100 since October 2012, which is a regular revision followed by the company. HeroMotoCorp’s Q3 FY13 result was lower than street estimates; HeroMotoCorp’s volume in Q3 FY13 was down 1% YoY but up 18% Q-o-Q to 15,73,135 units due to festival season in Q3 in this FY. Contribution from 75-125 cc segments has increased by 97 bps YoY but down 207 bps Q-o-Q. Major contribution in 75-125 cc segments have been 125 cc segments namely Ignitor, Super Splendor and Glamour which has led to growth in realization. Management expects industry and HeroMotoCorp to grow at 5% - 6%. HeroMotoCorp’s Revenue was marginally lower at Rs. 6,151 Cr largely led by higher realization of Rs. 39,102/unit. EBITDA were lower than street estimates at Rs. 779 Cr. and EBIDTA margin were around 12.6%. Other expenditure was higher at Rs. 625 Cr. despite volumes which were down by 1% YoY due to increase in dealer margin by 50% on incremental sales and higher Ad spending in wake of intense competition. PAT for the HeroMotoCorp was at Rs. 488 Cr. Other expenses were high at 10.2% due to brand building and product launches. The management expects these expenses to continue in Q4FY13. It expects ad-spend to remain at 2% of sales. The Tax rate is expected to increase to 23% in FY14 from 16.3% currently as the Haridwar plant will no longer be eligible for tax breaks. The management expects better y-o-y volume growth in Q4FY13 than in Q3FY13. Management is expecting some relief in raw material cost due to depreciating YEN. Hero Moto Corp shipped its first lot of motorcycles to Latin America, it intends to increase its exports to 10% of its total sales. This was one of the key reasons that Hero parted with Honda, to be able to pursue its interests in the International market. The company hopes to sell in around 30 countries around the globe. It is expected that the company will launch 'Hero' as a brand in the south America markets in the next few weeks. It also intends to set up an assembly units in these markets once the relevant volumes are achieved.    

Outlook and Valuation:

Hero MotoCorp’s efforts for brand building post the Honda split and its investment phase and intensifying competition in two-wheelers will exert pressure on its profitability in the short term. However, its fundamentals are intact given its leadership position, robust rural reach and strong brand recall. HeroMotoCorp’s market share in two-wheelers rose by 2.93% quarter on quarter to 38.6%. It also gained market share from Honda in its core domestic motorcycle segment – its market share rose by 1.93% Q-o-Q to 51.9%. 

Hero MotoCorp's manufacturing plant at Haridwar

HeroMotoCorp has started the construction of its fourth manufacturing plant which will have an capacity of 7.50 lakh units per annum and started a new global parts center in Neemrana, Rajasthan at a capex of around Rs. 550 Cr. This plant  is spread over an area of 47 acres and will provide employment to over 1,000 people These are expected to be operational by the end of FY14. Company is also in the process of acquiring land for the Gujarat plant, this plant is expected to be operational by FY15. The Rajasthan and Gujarat projects will take up the total installed capacity to 85 lakh units. Despite festive season, inventory pile-up continues at the dealer’s level on poor demands. Since the rural region accounts for nearly 46% of sales, weak monsoons at the outset have impacted sales volume. Honda’s new launches in the sub-125 cc segment and commissioning of capacities well ahead of HeroMotoCorp’s new capacities is the biggest concern for HeroMotoCorp from its market share erosion point of view. The benefit on account of reduction in royalty Q1 FY15 onward would compensate the incremental cost pressure for HeroMotoCorp. At current price of Rs. 1646.95, the stock is trading at P/E of 15.23 x on FY13 estimates & 13.77 x on FY14 estimates. In my view HeroMotocorp could post EPS of Rs.108.10 for FY13E & Rs.119.60 for FY14E and one can ACCUMULATE the stock and would advise investors to use declines in the stock to buy with a long term view with a target price of Rs. 1842.00 for Medium to Long term investment.

KEY FINANCIALS	FY12	FY13E	FY14E	FY15E
SALES (Rs. Crs)	23,878.90	24,076.80	26,451.70	29,663.70
NET PROFIT(Rs. Crs)	2,378.80	2,157.90	2,357.90	2,999.70
EPS (Rs.)	119.10	108.10	119.60	150.20
PE (x)	15.00	16.50	14.90	11.90
P/BV (x)	8.30	6.50	5.20	4.20
EV/EBITDA (x)	8.90	9.30	8.20	6.90
ROE (%)	65.70	44.10	38.70	39.10
ROCE (%)	69.50	46.00	43.60	46.60

I would buy HERO MOTOCORP LTD with a price target of Rs. 1842 for Medium to Long term. As I always say, I am a long term believer in markets & I do respect the markets and will keep a strict stop loss of 8 % or Rs. 1515.20 on every purchase.

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