JCI gave reasonably good guidance for 2014 and beyond prior to its analyst day today. Just so everyone is clear, JCI's automotive battery business falls under its Power Solutions segment, not the automotive experience segment.
JCI guided to 7-8% growth in 2014 for the battery segment though growth is likely to be driven outside North America, particularly in China. JCI's operating margin guidance for batteries is for over 16%...obvioulsy Exide is a long way from there and has scale disadvantages, but there is significant room for improvement. Over the medium term, which JCI defines as 2018, they are actually forecasting growth to accelerate modestly to 8-9%, which is encouraging.
JCI's stock is down slightly today because 2014 EPS guidance was slightly weaker than expected. That said, the stock still trades at over 10x LTM EBITDA. That's a healthy multiple and it will be one input into the ultimate valuation of Exide.
ENS also trades at over 10x LTM EBITDA. I've already highlighted Exide's relative performance in industrial batteries...I'll let you form your own opinions as to whether Exide is performing relatively well in that segment.
