Haven't heard a peep on $AXTA in years it feels like (Meryl Witmer pitched Barron's in 2016)
1) Decent business = specialty chem (light vehicle + commercial vehicle paints via body shops, OEM + industrial)
2) Stock is basically flat since 2016 despite improved fundamentals since then... revenue +27% and EPS +2.3x
3) New management as of mid-2023 (former Meritor CEO/CFO, sold that biz to Cummins)
4) Mgmt laid out 3-year plan (2024-2026) and essentially hit targets by end of 2025 and still finding ops improvements... decentralized P&L, capex/productivity investments, etc.
5) B/S historically levered ~3.5x (2014-2022), now at 2.5x (targeting 2-2.5x) = capital allocation potential
6) Valuation reasonable at 12x earnings / 8x EBITDA with peers at 14-15x earnings / 10x EBITDA
Not cheapest idea on the planet but nice combo of: coiled spring chart + decent business + reasonable value. Specialty chem w/ 20%+ EBITDA margins usually good takeout candidates.