Magna (MGA) to Expand Ontario Operations for Battery Enclosures

Magna International MGA recently announced that it is expanding its operations into Chatham-Kent, Ontario, as part of an extension of its current operations in St. Thomas to support new business from Ford F.

Magna, focused on accelerating its electrification strides, is leveraging its top-class body and chassis expertise to provide innovative battery enclosures. MGA’s investment in Chatham-Kent will be a springboard for growth in the area. The sprawling 170,000 square foot facility is supposed to create around 150 new jobs and will manufacture battery enclosures for the Ford F-150 Lighting. This trailblazing offering would be the largest lightweight aluminum battery enclosure available in the market and the first on a work truck.

Magna stated that commendable work by its employees at the Formet, St. Thomas facility has led to additional business for the company, allowing it to expand opportunities in Chatham to develop new technology that has tremendous growth potential.

Chatham-Kent is driven by green, innovative and futuristic technologies. Hence Magna’s values complement it very well.

Magna’s broad range of product and service offerings provides it with a competitive edge. The company is actively focusing on innovation and technology development along with program launches across its business segments and stands to benefit from key emerging trends, including electrification and autonomous driving. A deep focus on its portfolio of e-powertrain products and a strong competitive position in battery enclosures augur well. Magna’s electrification portfolio includes EtelligentEco, EtelligentForce and EtelligentReach, all of which are aid top-line growth.

Shares of MGA have declined 27.6% compared with the industry’s 41.8% fall.

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Zacks Rank & Key Picks

MGA currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).

Better-ranked players in the auto space include Harley-Davidson HOG and Tesla TSLA, each sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), currently. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Harley-Davidson has an expected earnings growth rate of 2.2% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has been revised 28.1% upward in the past 60 days.

Harley-Davison’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters, the average being 77.6%. The stock has gained 0.5% over the past year.

Tesla has an expected earnings growth rate of 42.3% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has been revised 3.4% upward in the past 60 days.

Tesla’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in all the trailing four quarters, the average being 33.3%. The stock has soared 65.3% over the past year.

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