The future's looking bright, car audio systems maker Harman International (HAR) said, as Europe's automotive industry revs up for recovery.
Harman CEO Dinesh Paliwal said in an interview with Reuters news service Friday there are signs that vehicle sales in Europe might be turning a corner.
"For the current fiscal year, we assume in our planning for the European auto sector a flat to 1% decline from last year. We hope it will be zero to 1% plus," he said.
The rate of decline has slowed and is close to zero now, Paliwal said.
The company sells a large share of its JBL and Harman Kardon branded systems to high-end European carmakers, such as Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler AG (DDAIF), Ferrari maker Fiat SpA and Volkswagen AG's (VLKAY) Audi brand. Europe accounted for 43% of Harman's sales last year.
Harman's stock reflects its growth.
It climbed 71% in four months this year, from a 41 low on April 19 to a 71 high on Aug. 12, before consolidating in sync with a market downturn. Harman shares eased fractionally in Friday afternoon trading on the stock market today.
The audio systems maker is in the consumer electronic products group, ranked a healthy 40 on IBD's list of 197 industries.
Elsewhere in the group, Sony (SNE) was roughly unchanged, Dolby Laboratories (DLB) dipped 0.4% and GPS systems maker Garmin (GRMN) was down about 1%.
Harman is well positioned to take advantage of any upside in Europe.
After sales fell in late 2012 and early this year, it returned to growth last quarter with an 8% year-over-year increase to $1.18 billion.
It's reported higher profit 11 quarters in a row and is expected to record a 13% rise this quarter.
Its stock carries a powerful 94 IBD Composite Rating, meaning it's outperformed 94% of all stocks in recent quarters on key metrics such as sales and profit growth.
Another group member, Universal Electronics (UEIC), which makes universal remote controls and accessories, Like Harman, sports a 94 Composite Rating. Its shares were up 1%.
Harman CEO Dinesh Paliwal said in an interview with Reuters news service Friday there are signs that vehicle sales in Europe might be turning a corner.
"For the current fiscal year, we assume in our planning for the European auto sector a flat to 1% decline from last year. We hope it will be zero to 1% plus," he said.
The rate of decline has slowed and is close to zero now, Paliwal said.
The company sells a large share of its JBL and Harman Kardon branded systems to high-end European carmakers, such as Mercedes-Benz maker Daimler AG (DDAIF), Ferrari maker Fiat SpA and Volkswagen AG's (VLKAY) Audi brand. Europe accounted for 43% of Harman's sales last year.
Harman's stock reflects its growth.
It climbed 71% in four months this year, from a 41 low on April 19 to a 71 high on Aug. 12, before consolidating in sync with a market downturn. Harman shares eased fractionally in Friday afternoon trading on the stock market today.
The audio systems maker is in the consumer electronic products group, ranked a healthy 40 on IBD's list of 197 industries.
Elsewhere in the group, Sony (SNE) was roughly unchanged, Dolby Laboratories (DLB) dipped 0.4% and GPS systems maker Garmin (GRMN) was down about 1%.
Harman is well positioned to take advantage of any upside in Europe.
After sales fell in late 2012 and early this year, it returned to growth last quarter with an 8% year-over-year increase to $1.18 billion.
It's reported higher profit 11 quarters in a row and is expected to record a 13% rise this quarter.
Its stock carries a powerful 94 IBD Composite Rating, meaning it's outperformed 94% of all stocks in recent quarters on key metrics such as sales and profit growth.
Another group member, Universal Electronics (UEIC), which makes universal remote controls and accessories, Like Harman, sports a 94 Composite Rating. Its shares were up 1%.
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