We’re about to turn the page on the calendar, put 2021 behind us, and stride into the brave, new year of 2022 – and Wall Street’s prognosticators are busy scanning the stocks to find the winners and losers for next year’s markets. Whether it’s individual stocks, whole industry sectors, or some combination of both, the analysts are finding plenty of Buy-rated equities for investors to consider.
Take the automotive sector. Few industrials will present as many investment opportunities, both in 2022 and going forward; it’s an essential industry, and it’s in the midst of a sea-change as electric and alt-fuel drive technologies are expanding, and gasoline engines are falling out of social favor.
In coverage for RBC, analyst Joseph Spak sees the auto sector primed for a strong rebound post-COVID. He writes, “We believe the multi-year volume recovery backdrop driven by improvement in semiconductor and supply chain availability coupled with low inventories and improving schedule stability provides a solid backdrop for the suppliers.”
Spak acknowledges near-term volatility, of course. Semiconductor chips are still in short supply, and transport bottlenecks are still plaguing the industry, but consumer demand is rising, and credit should remain plentiful even if the Fed does implement a rate increase next year. All of this, in Spak’s view, adds up to a 2H22 weighting for improvements in automotive stocks.
