NEW YORK, Oct 6 (Reuters) - The Trump
administration’s plan to cut corporate taxes may add more fuel to the
already hot rally in the shares of automation companies.
Fund
managers from Columbia Threadneedle Investments, Hodges Capital and
Hood Capital say that they expect that companies will use part of their
tax savings to invest in high-cost machines that will allow them to
reduce labor costs over time.
That would be a boon for companies
such as Cognex Corp , which makes so-called machine vision systems that
are used to quickly sort and fill orders in e-commerce warehouses, and
Faro Technologies Inc, which makes three-dimensional measuring tools
that can help lower labor costs on aerospace assembly lines. Cognex
shares touched a 52-week high on Friday, while Faro shares at $38.20
were closing in on their year-high of $40.60 reached in August.
“Scarcity
of capital is the thing that keeps companies from spending money when
it makes sense to do so. Investing in automation would be something that
pays for itself quickly,” said Matt Litfin, a portfolio manager of the
$4.8-billion Columbia Acorn fund, who owns shares of Cognex. Shares of
the company are up 80 percent year-to-date.
Automation
companies have rallied overall this year as corporate America looks for
ways to maintain margins and productivity at a time when wages are
rising and unemployment is low.
The $1.4
billion Robo Global Robotics and Automation Index ETF, which includes a
mix of large-cap companies such as Rockwell Automation and Intuitive
Surgical, is up over 35 percent for the year to date, nearly triple the
13.5-percent gain in the broad S&P 500 index.
Numerous
fund holdings are up over 90 percent for the year to date, including
drone manufacturer AeroVironment Inc , gear manufacturer Harmonic Drive
Systems Inc, and laser company IPG Photonics Corp.
Large-cap
automation companies, such as Rockwell Automation Inc and Emerson
Electric Co, have also posted solid returns so far this year, though
smaller-cap companies have seen larger share price gains overall.
The
Robo ETF has posted positive inflows every week since President Donald
Trump’s November election, partly due to investor anticipation of a
corporate tax cut. Investors have sent $461 million into the fund since
early August, when the Trump administration began publicly discussing
its plans to cut the top corporate tax rates to 20 percent, from 35
percent.
Prominent Republican senators such as
Bob Corker and Rand Paul have criticized the Trump administration’s plan
for its potential to increase the federal deficit, leaving its passage
far from certain. Yet fund managers say that they see gains in
automation companies continuing regardless of whether a tax bill passes.
“Even eight years after the financial crisis,
companies are still very focused on their bottom lines and maintaining
efficiency and productivity as much as possible,” said Eric Marshall, a
portfolio manager of the $743-million Hodges Small Cap fund.
Middleby
Corp, which makes smart ovens and other kitchen equipment used in
restaurant chains such as Panera Bread, will likely benefit as companies
look for ways to reduce labor costs as more states raise the minimum
wage, he said.
Shares of Middleby are flat for the year, in part
due to slow sales of its Viking line of high-end ovens after the company
had to recall some freestanding gas ranges that turned on by themselves
with customers unable to turn them off. Hodges said that despite the
overhang, the company looks poised to continue to grow as restaurants
expand and high real-estate prices prompt more homeowners to upgrade
their kitchens. “This is a company that’s got some real secular trends going for it, and a corporate tax cut will only accelerate those trends,” he said. (Reporting by David Randall; Editing by Cynthia Osterman and James Dalgleish)
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