Analyst Tim Rokossa on Daimler: "A solid quarter amid a very volatile supply environment. Daimler was one of our preferred names going into the reporting season as we expected the premium OEM to benefit from a very strong mix and pricing, as well as tight cost control - the two elements we believe made all the difference during Q3. Indeed, focusing on the high-end models resulted in a high-single-digit Cars margin, despite 30% lower volumes. The measures implemented by the management team to lower the break-even point clearly made the company more resilient and agile."
Daimler's almost €3bn of underlying free cash flow is also called impressive and Deutsche Bank thinks pricing will remain supportive amid healthy demand and hardly any inventory in the supply chain. Daimler is seen as attractive for having its costs under control as well as the pricing power to pass on higher input prices, which keeps the German firm with a Buy rating on the German automaker.